A Different Kind of End
by Kuani-Kawaii
Summary: Hatred is like an infection, if left to fester it only becomes worse, until there is little to no hope of return. Frisk had abandoned her life on the surface, she had not expected to survive the fall, even less so make friends with the monsters rumoured to live under the mountain. So what happens when she leaves and is all alone once again. Why did she listen to the flowers advice?
1. Prologue

Stumbling through the barrier on weak legs she drops to the ground, a cool autumn breeze whips through her tattered and torn sweater. The sun is just rising on the horizon, throwing tones of gold and purple across the multicoloured canopy of trees below her spot on the cliff edge, making the view look like it was ablaze. Slowly her heart beat slowed and she felt numb, "Is this it, is this how it ends?" she croaks out quietly, but no one answers, no one is around to answer. Curling up, she wraps her aching arms around her knees at a loss of what to do now, she had given up everything on the surface when she came to the mountain, she never expected to see the sun, the sky or even the world again when she fell. After everything she had experienced in the underground, "what do I do now?" she asks the open air with no emotion.

 **Ring, ring ...**

A phone rang, she frowns and looks around before realisation floods through her and she scrambles to pull out the small phone Toriel had given her, and that Dr Alphys had upgraded from her small satchel. The number flashing up on the screen was one she didn't recognise but she answers it quickly with a small flicker of hope, "H..hello?"

"Heya. Is anyone there...?" Sans deep voice fills her ear and a shattered joy flows through her,

"Sans!"

"Well, I'll just leave a message..."

"Sans? Sans I'm here!"

"So... It's been a while." He could not hear her, sadness wells up and with her head drooping she continues to listen, "The Queen returned, and is now ruling over the underground. She's instated a new policy..." there is a pause, "all the humans who fall here will be treated not as enemies... but as friends. It's probably for the best, anyway. The human souls the King gathered... seem to have disappeared. So, uh, that plan ain't happening any time soon. But even though people are heartbroken over the King..." tears begin to sting her eyes, "...and things are looking grim for our freedom... the Queen's trying her best not to let us give up hope. So, uh, hey... if we're not giving up down here... don't give up wherever you are ok? Who knows how long it will take... but we will get out of here," tears were silently streaming down her face now as a new voice erupts loudly from the phone,

"SANS! WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?" It was very clearly Papyrus,

"Oh, nobody." Sans responds,

"WHAT!? NOBODY!? CAN I TALK TO THEM TOO?"

"Here, knock yourself out,"

"WAIT A SECOND... I RECOGNISE THIS NUMBER!" this makes her giggle quietly, "ATTENTION, HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS..." dramatic pause, "AM NOW CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD! IT'S EVERYTHING I'VE DREAMED OF..."another pause, "EXCEPT, INSTEAD OF FIGHTING, WE JUST WATER FLOWERS. SO THAT'S EVER-SO-SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. AND, WE'RE HELPING DR. ALPHYS WITH HER RESEARCH! SHE'S GONNA FIND A WAY TO GET US OUT OF HERE. UNDYNE IS HELPING HER TOO! THOUGH, TO BE HONEST, HER METHOD OF HELPING...SEEMS KIND OFF... EXPLOSION-INDUCING," this turns her quiet giggle into a louder chuckle, "BUT I THINK ALPHYS LIKES HAVING HER AROUND. UH OH!"

"Hey! What are you up to, punk!? Ngahhhh!" Undyne's loud voice rivals Papyrus'

"PLEASE DON'T NOOGIE THE PHONE."

"Hey! Who's in charge here!?" she demands,

"ME." Papyrus responds simply,

"Oh... yeah, that's right! I quit my job as leader of the Royal Guard. Actually, since we won't be fighting anymore... The Royal Guard totally disbanded. There's, uh, only one member now."

"BUT HE'S EXTREMELY GOOD."

"Yeah! He is! C'mere!"

"PLEASE DON'T NOOGIE THE SKELETON."

"Any way's, now I'm working as Alphy's lab assistant... We're gonna find a way out of this dump once and for all! Oh, yeah, and I'm a gym teacher at the queen's new school. Did you know I can bench-press seven children? Awesome, right?" there is a long pause, "Hey. I'm sorry about what happened with Asgore. You were just doing what you had to. It's not your fault he..." a sob of raw emotion caught in her throat at Undyne's words, "Ah, darn it. I miss the big guy."

"H-hey, Undyne, are you okay...?" Alphys' stuttering voice interrupts,

"I'm fine. Why don't you talk for a while?"

"U...uh okay? Man, she's tsundere..." there is an extremely long pause before she speaks again, "um, hi... S-sorry, I hate talking on the phone. I don't really know what to say..." another long pause, "Hey, why didn't you tell me the Queen was so cute? Uh, I mean, uh... Mettaton's doing OK! And! Um! I'm trying to figure a way for us to get out of here! B-but I kinda have no idea what I'm doing. I'll figure it out eventually though. The Queen is a lot different from Asgore... She actually checks to see if I'm doing anything. She's really turned this whole place around!" another pause and what sounds like movement, "Oh! Hey! Wait a second! Hey! Toriel! Do you wanna talk to...?" another pause a mumble of conversation to quiet to comprehend, "Well, she says she's busy."

"Oh, she SAYS she's busy." Undyne chuckles,

"IF SHE KNEW WHO WE WERE TALKING TO..." Papyrus continues,

"We wouldn't get the phone back for at least a few hours." Sans adds,

"WE HAVE THE MERCY TO SPARE YOU FROM HER!" this brings a little more sadness into her heart,

"B-but, if you want to, call and talk to her any time." Alphys says as if she could tell this had upset her, but that was not possible,

"Yeah! She'd be happy to hear from ya!" Undyne encourages,

"Oh, whoops. This thing's almost outta batteries. So, hate to cut this short, but... be seeing you, ok, buddy?" Sans interrupts,

"BYE BYE FOR NOW!" Papyrus shouts,

"See ya, punk!" Undyne yells,

"G-good... good... Hey, why do I have to be the one to hang up? Eheheh... I hate goodbyes... Um, we'll see you again someday!" Alphys ends the call, the phone goes dead. Curling back into a ball her body shudders with emotion as her heart brakes and tears fell. After a while she becomes aware of a presence beside her, glancing down she scowls sadly at the small yellow flower, silently demanding to know what he wants now, he looks up at her with a thoughtful expression before beginning to speak,

"Why? Why did you let me go? Don't you realise that being nice just makes you get hurt? Look at yourself, you made all these great friends... But now, you'll probably never see them again. Not to mention how much they've been set back by you. Hurts, doesn't it?" her glare hardens a little at his mocking pity, "If you had just gone through without caring about anyone... You wouldn't have to feel bad now. So, I don't get it. If you really did everything the right way... Why did things still end up like this? Why...? Is life really that unfair? Say. What if I told you... I knew some way to get you a better ending? You'll have to start over, and... Well, in the meantime, why don't you go see Dr. Alphys? It seems like you could have been better friends. Who knows... maybe she's got the key to your happiness...? See you soon." he smiles shiftily and disappears into the ground from where he came. She's left wondering exactly what he meant, start over, was it even possible. As she questioned this, two choices appeared in front of her, glowing yellow. Continue? Reset? She hovers her hand over the reset option,

"Is it even possible?" after everything she had just experienced, was she willing to go through it again? The answer was surprisingly simple as the images of her friends flickered through her mind, "I'll do it, I'll go back, and I will get everyone out, I'll save everyone," a grin of determination flows across her face, "including you Flowey." She presses the reset, darkness envelops her and suddenly she was falling.

She wakes up on a bed of yellow flowers, "It actually worked..." she mumbles quietly, everything kind of hurt as she stared up at the hole she fell from, again. Suddenly a head pops into her vision, she lets out a yelp of shock and scrambles away in fear,

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare ya!" a cheery voice chuckles mischievously, looking over the person, she found it was a boy maybe a year or two older, with shoulder length light brown hair, crimson eyes, pale skin and rosy cheeks. He was wearing similar clothing to herself, though whereas she was wearing a blue sweater with two purple stripes, a pair of blue shorts and brown boots, the boy was wearing a green sweater with one yellow stripe and brown shorts and boots. There was something else about him that she found odd, and not because he was not here last time, but the more she looked at him, the more she noticed he was kind of see through, "are you okay?" he asks cocking his head to the side like a puppy, she nods her head in reply, "don'cha talk?" he asks floating over, her eyes widen a little as he stops in front of her,

"I can talk," she mumbles quietly, "I just don't like to, for personal reasons," the boy grins at her but then frowns and looks up,

"Did you fall down from up there?" he asks before looking back at her, she nods, "Hmm, so did I, but that was a long time ago," he frowns deeply. Out of curiosity she tries to poke him and is surprised to find substance, "hey that tickles!" he laughs and steps back a little,

"I thought you were a ghost..." she mumbles,

"I am," he grins, "I died down here and now I'm kind of stuck," he shrugs, "what's your name?"

"Huh, oh, my name is Frisk," she answers shyly,

"Frisk huh? That's a nice name," he smiles as she blushes lightly, "I'm Chara, it's nice to meet you partner."


	2. 1 - A True Pacifist - Enter the Ruins

**A/N - Very quick authors note before we dive into the story, this story will somewhat follow the game to begin with, with a few exceptions. I'm quite excited to do this story so I hope people enjoy it and have patience with me, it may not have to best flow as I'm not very good at 3rd person perspective but I'm going to try my best. Okay I'm rambling now, I'll leave you to it...**

Chapter One - A True Pacifist - Enter the Ruins

Chara holds out a hand to her, she takes it cautiously wondering just how it is even possible, "Partners?" she questions once on her feet,

"Of course," Chara grins, his crimson eyes sparkling, "you _did_ wake me up," he chuckles, "it would be wrong for me to just leave you here alone in this dangerous place,"

"I don't think it's dangerous," Frisk mumbles looking down, "um, you said you were stuck?"

"Yeah, but don't worry your pretty little head about it," he tells her while ruffling her hair,

"Maybe I can help?" Frisk says with a tiny smile, fighting a blush that was rushing across her face,

"You have to think about your own safety first Frisk, I don't want you to end up like me,"

"Well if I die I can just continue from a save point and try again," Frisk responds but then gasps and covers their mouth, _'no-one was supposed to know,'_ Chara looks at Frisk with excitement,

"So, you have a determination SOUL," his grin widens, "no wonder you were able to wake me up," Frisk frowns at him now, "what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Frisk shakes her head and smiles to hide the fact she is lying, _'I don't think I should tell him I've already been down here once'_

"Come on, I'll help you through the underground, after all its full of monsters and they will try to hurt you," he says taking her hand,

"But they aren't bad!" Frisk protests, Chara gives her a funny look his ruby eyes darkening,

"Frisk, how do you think I died?" He shakes his head, "come on, I'll get you home," he promises as his eyes return to normal, she just nods in response, choosing not to voice the fact she plans on getting everyone out of here. A smile flickers across her face as she lets Chara guide her forward, _'I just have one more to help now.'_

They continue down the dark passageway and eventually through a large door, Frisk wonders if she will see Flowey again and how he will act. Her question is answered when she sees the little yellow flower up ahead on a small patch of grass, slipping her hand out of Chara's grip she hurries forward, Flowey smiles at her, "Howdy! I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower!" he then chuckles as Frisk frowns a little, "Why'd you make me introduce myself? It's rude to act like you don't know who I am?" Chara comes to a floating stop beside Frisk giving her a questioning look, "someone ought to teach you some manners, I guess little old me will have to do." He grins at me,

"Be careful," Chara warns,

"Ready? Here we go!" Flowey says and Frisk gasps as her SOUL is pulled forth, it glows bright pulsating red, brighter than it had before,

"Whoa," Chara says with a little awe in his voice, _'does this mean it's stronger than last time?'_ Frisk wonders,

"See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being! Your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV." Frisk had heard this from Flowey before, but he keeps going, "What's LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some love, don't you? Don't worry, I'll share some with you!" he winks, "Down here, LOVE is shared through little white 'friendliness pellets'." Chara scoffs loudly at this but Flowey doesn't seem to notice, "Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!"

"Dodge them," Chara advises, Frisk already knows to do this though through experience and quickly steps out of the way as the little white pellets fly her way, Flowey narrows his eyes,

"Hey buddy, you missed them. Let's try that again," more white pellets fire towards Frisk, she easily steps out of the way again, Flowey is not impressed, "Is this a joke? Are you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!" shock registers on his face for a flicker of a moment, "friendliness pellets," he quickly corrects sending more pellets, again Frisk dodges them as Chara stands back and watches the flower with a dark frown. Flowey then gets what Frisk calls his scary face on, "You know what's going on here, don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer."

"No, Flowey I..." Frisk tries to talk to him, but he just surrounds her with pellets,

"Frisk you have to fight him!" Chara shouts, "I can help you if you need me to!" but Frisk shakes her head and watches Flowey,

"Die!" the pellets starts moving in,

"Please Frisk do something!" Chara pleads, his eyes switching from Frisk to Flowey, but Frisk refuses even as Flowey starts to laugh manically she simply clenches her hands into tight fists and stands her ground. Fire suddenly burns them all away, Flowey gets a moment to register shock before a small fireball hits him and sends him flying into the darkness. Frisk grins at Chara who just looks confused. A figure comes hurrying towards them out of the shadows, a large goat monster with snowy white fur and kind eyes smiles at Frisk as she comes to a stop in front of her,

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth. Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins, I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time." As Toriel talks Frisk steps closer to the goat woman,

"Frisk..." Chara whispers in warning, he seems untrusting of Toriel, but Frisk knows Toriel is nice,

"Come! I will guide you through the catacombs," Toriel holds out a hand for Frisk who happily takes it as her SOUL returns to her body. The goat woman leads her through another door, both Frisk and Chara look up,

"The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination." Chara whispers in Frisks ear, Frisk silently giggles as a feeling of warmth flushes through her, _'save point'_. Toriel proceeds to guide them through the puzzles of the ruins, Frisk was ready for them, having done them before she would rush around before coming back to Toriel with a bright smile. Chara would mutter under their breath every now and then, not anything Frisk could hear but it became clear to her that he was uncomfortable. Toriel explained how encountering a monster in the underground would initiate a fight, but that she need not worry,

"While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation." She got Frisk to practice on a dummy, deciding to be a little cheeky she stands still and simply stares at it,

"You should just hit it," Chara grumbles, Frisk ignores the suggestion, soon enough the dummy leaves having had enough of their shenanigans, Chara did find Toriel's reaction funny though, which made Frisk grin as they then continued further into the ruins. At some point Toriel leaves them though, claiming she needs to do something but will be back, she gave Frisk a phone before leaving and promises to come back shortly. "You shouldn't trust the monsters Frisk," Chara tells her as Toriel leaves, Frisk frowns at him and glances at Toriel's retreating figure wondering if she heard his words,

"That's not nice Chara," she scolds, "what if she heard you?"

"You don't need to worry about that Frisky," he chuckles ruffling her hair again, she pushes his hand off with a huff, "Toriel can't see me or hear me, only you can,"

"Only me?" she asks, he nods, "That seems kind of, lonely," Frisk pouts sadly,

"It's okay Frisky, because I got you," he grins, Frisk smiles back and gives him a hug, somehow. This causes Chara blush slightly before hugging back and then quickly stepping away, "we should keep going,"

"Yeah, Toriel will take a while," Frisk says walking on, Chara following close behind. As they step into the next room the phone rings, they glance at one another before Frisk answers it,

"Hello? This is Toriel. You have not left the room, have you?" they share a guilty look but say nothing, "There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try and solve them yourself." Frisk shakes her head as Chara rolls his eyes, "be good alright?" the call ends,

"Come on, let's go in here," Frisk says to Chara turning into a small room, in the centre is a pedestal, where a bowl sits filled with candy,

"Just take one and don't be greedy," Chara tells her,

"Yes Dad!" Frisk responds with sass, Chara chuckles and pokes her in the head, "come on, let's keep going," Frisk skips back out into the hallway, off to the side is a pile of leaves and she rushes over kicking through it with childish delight,

"Playfully crinkling though the leaves, fills you with determination," Chara grins, Frisk returns the smile as she gets the familiar feeling of a save point, she moves on, skipping happily through the ruins, Chara smiling and following. They had a few encounters mainly Froggits with who Frisk would cheekily flirt with and which Chara would making gagging sounds each time, when each fight was over they would hurry away giggling. After a while the phone rang again,

"Hello? This is Toriel," Frisk ignores Chara pulling a face, "For no reason in particular...which do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?" before Frisk can say anything Toriel continues talking, "wait. Do not tell me. Is it butterscotch?" Frisk grins at Chara,

"Yes," she responds quietly to Toriel,

"Hee hee hee. I had a feeling. When humans fall down here, strangely... I... I often feel like I already know them." Frisk frowns a little, _'did I say butterscotch last time?'_ "Truthfully, when I first saw you, I felt... like I was seeing an old friend for the first time. Strange, is it not?" Frisk really wanted to tell Toriel the truth, but did not think she would believe her, "Well, thank you for your selection." The call ends and Frisk looks up to see Chara looking at her curiously, she raises an eyebrow questioningly,

"Have you... you know what, never mind, let's go!" he hurries her forward and they step to continue on but the phone rings again,

"Hello? You do not dislike cinnamon, do you? I know your preference, but, would you turn up your nose if you found it on your plate? Right I understand, thank you for being patient by the way." The call ends again and the continue on through the ruins and their puzzles. They receive another call not long after, "Hello? You do not have any allergies, do you? Huh? Why am I asking? No reason... no reason at all."

"Likes to answer her own questions, doesn't she?" Chara comments, Frisk simply shrugs in reply then gets an idea, pulling the phone back out of her small satchel she rings the only number registered, Chara tilts slightly in the air floating and watches her curiously,

"This is Toriel,"

"Hi Mom," Frisk says happily, Chara stares at her blankly,

"Huh? Did you just call me...Mom? Well I suppose, would that make you happy? To call me... Mother? Well then, call me whatever you like!" she ends the call,

"Why did you do that?" Chara asks, Frisk looks at him,

"To make her happy, I think she must be very lonely,"

"But you don't know that for sure," Chara points out, Frisk shrugs, of course she actually did know, she knew Toriel lived alone in the ruins and she was determined to change her fate.

They continued on through the maze of ruins, having few encounters and dealing with a rock who Chara scowled and complained about, Frisk just smiled at him and said, "We just didn't explain what we wanted it to do properly,"

"What's hard to understand, move forward," Chara huffs,

"But we didn't tell him to stay," she points out, Chara just narrows his eyes at her and puffs out his cheeks making her giggle,

"Hey look!" Frisk points ahead of them to a small table, rushing over to it they both examine the rather old looking cheese sitting there,

"This cheese has been here quite a long time." Chara notes prodding it, "It's stuck to the table..." they share a small look of disgust, Frisk then spots a small mouse hole in the wall,

"Hey Chara, do you think there's a mouse?" she asks crouching by the hole and glancing up at him, they both hear a small squeak, Chara grins,

"Knowing the mouse might one day leave its hole and get the cheese... It fills you with determination." Frisk giggles and shakes her head at his words, but once again gets the familiar warmth of a save point, "Shall we keep going?" Chara asks offering her a hand to get up, she gladly takes it while nodding. They continue on, hand in hand wondering what they will find next, though Frisk had a very good idea and hurriedly pulls Chara along. In the next room they come across a white ghostly figure lying on a bed of leaves, snoring can be heard, fake snoring. Frisk withholds a chuckle, "You're going to have to make him move," Chara grumbles while narrowing his eyes at the ghost, Frisk nods sadly and gives the ghost a little push, Frisk smiles warmly at the ghost as her soul pops out, remembering his name is Napstablook from last time,

"Heh..." tears form in his eyes, _'oh no I didn't want to make him cry'_ the tears start moving towards her but she easily moves out of the way, soon the tears stop and he looks a little bit better, Frisk decides to tell a joke, after pondering for a quick moment she smiles,

"Can a kangaroo jump higher than a house? Of course, a house doesn't jump at all." Frisk feels quite proud of the joke, even Chara chuckles,

"Heh heh..." Napstablook lets out a small laugh, "let me try," he starts to cry again but the tears float upwards, slowly forming into a hat, "I call it 'dapper blook' do you like it...?"

"Wow," Chara cringes, Frisk nods and smiles brightly at Napstablook,

"Oh gee," he responds, "I usually come to the ruins because there's nobody around, but today I met somebody nice, oh I'm rambling again, I'll get out of your way," he says while slowly fading away,

"Aww," Frisk pouts,

"What, did you want to befriend the ghost," Chara rolls his eyes, "it was a ghost Frisk, you can't befriend a ghost,"

"Um," Frisk turns to look at him, "what about you then?"

"Huh?" Chara looks confused,

"You're a ghost, and we're friends,"

"We are?" his eyes widen a little,

"Of course," she giggles, "partners right," she grins as he blushes lightly and she pulls him over the patch of leaves, intent on more exploring.


	3. 2 - Ruins Exit

Chapter 2 - A True Pacifist - Ruins Exit

After more exploring, they find a spider bake sale, sadly neither of them has money but later they were given some off a Loox for sparing him. Frisk held up the golden coins grinning at Chara,

"You could have gotten more than gold if you fought him," he grumbles,

"No, no fighting," Frisk scolds, "let's go back to the bake sale,"

"Must we?" he whines,

"Yes, it's for an important cause!" Frisk giggles while skipping along. Once they had purchased a spider donut, which Chara cringed at, they get back on track and shortly after the phone rings again, Frisk answers it quickly,

"Hello? I just realized that it has been a while since I have cleaned up. I was not expecting to have company so soon. There are probably a lot of things lying about here and there. You can pick them up, but do not carry more than you need. Someday you might see something you really like so you will want to leave room in your pockets for that." Toriel ends the call,

"What was that all about, plus does she not say goodbye like ever?" Chara frowns,

"What that means is, treasure," Frisk's golden eyes sparkle in excitement, "and goodbyes always seem so very final, I don't like them," she adds on, remembering the sadness off passing through the barrier leaving her friends behind, and that phone call,

"Hmm," Chara just continues to frown as he follows after her.

They did indeed find what Frisk dubbed as treasure. They found a faded ribbon, which she failed to put correctly in her hair and it resulted in Chara fixing it for her, he nods satisfied, "If your cuter, monsters won't hit you as hard," he comments. They bumped into Napstablook briefly again but he went away pretty quickly, then they go through a series of rooms with colourful switches in which they had to pick the correct one to continue forward, luckily there was signs telling them which one to choose. Frisk was beginning to get tired, "Do you want to stop and rest for a while?" Chara asks her, concerned because she had lost a little health during recent encounters with many Loox, yet she still refused to attack even when they hurt her, he did not like that, he could not understand why she would not fight and it upset him that she was hurt as a result,

"No, I'm okay, we're close now," she gives a determined grin and keeps moving. She lets out a relieved sigh though as a large tree comes into view,

"Oh dear," Toriel's voice can suddenly be heard, "that took longer than I thought it would." she came into view pulling a phone out, obviously to ring Frisk, her eyes widen when she spots them, "How did you get here, my child? Are you hurt?" she asks with deep concern, "There, there, I will heal you."

"Heh, I guess she's kind of useful," Chara mutters, Frisk ignores him,

"I should not have left you alone for so long, it was irresponsible to try surprise you like this... err..." she pauses, "Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer, come small one!" she guides them over to a small purple bricked house and steps inside, Frisk smiles up at the building,

"Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the ruins gives you determination." Chara whispers in her ear making her giggle and push him away slightly, she let the feeling of a save point flow through her before stepping inside the small home to find Toriel waiting with a smile,

"Do you smell that?" she asks, "Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie."

"Of course it is," Chara responds with sass, Frisk is glad Toriel cannot hear him, that having been rather rude,

"I thought we might celebrate your arrival, I want you to have a nice time living here. So, I will hold off on snail pie tonight,"

"Ew," Chara cringes, Frisk tries not to laugh,

"Here, I have another surprise for you," Toriel leads them down the hall, "This is it..." taking Frisk's hand she guides her over to a door, "A room of your own, I hope you like it!" she then pats her head in a motherly gesture, "Is something burning...?" she suddenly asks with a worried tone, "Um, make yourself at home!" she then runs off back down the hall.

"I hope she didn't burn the pie," Chara comments, Frisk smiles and raises an eyebrow, "don't look at me like that, burning it would be a waste of perfectly good pie, even if it is butterscotch-cinnamon," he puffs his cheeks out, "chocolate would totally have been better," this makes Frisk giggle a little before she enters the room. They both smile looking over the small room, the walls were a warm cheery colour that matched the furniture perfectly, "you should get some rest Frisk, we've been walking for who knows how long," Chara tells her pushing her towards the comfy looking bed,

"You'll stay right?" Frisk asks feeling suddenly very attached to the ghostly boy,

"Not going anywhere, promise," he grins at her, she relaxes and climbs on the bed,

"You should rest too Chara," she says moving to make room for him then patting the bed,

"Frisk, I'm kinda dead, so, I don't need sleep,"

"Just lie with me," she pouts, he chuckles and gives in,

"How can I refuse that adorable face," he grins as she blushes and punches his arm, "sleep Frisk, you need it, we have a long way to go after this," Chara was right so Frisk curled up on her side and quickly fell into a deep slumber.

When Frisk awoke, there was a slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie wrapped up on a plate waiting, she chose to put it away in her small satchel, "I don't need it right now," Frisk said after seeing Chara's questioning look,

"Aren't you hungry?" he asks, Frisk shrugs and shakes her head,

"The pie will be more useful later," she pushes and Chara gives in. They both head out of the bedroom, as much as Frisk would like to just simply stay with Toriel, she had a job to do and that required leaving the ruins, _'this is going to suck'_ she thought sadly. She headed straight for Toriel,

"Up already I see?" she smiles warmly from a comfy chair beside an inviting crackling fire as Frisk steps into the room, "I want you to know how glad I am to have someone here, there are so many old books I want to share, I want to show you my favourite bug-hunting spot, I've also prepared a curriculum for your education." Frisk felt guilt ripple through her, Toriel just needed company, she had been alone in the ruins for so long but Frisk had to stay determined, "This may come as a surprise to you but I have always wanted to be a teacher," Frisk made a promise to herself to make that happen one day, "actually, perhaps that isn't very surprising. Still." Toriel' eyes narrow for a brief second, "I am glad to have you living here. Oh, I'm sorry, did you want something?" she seemed to finally realise she was rambling a little, "What is it?" taking a deep breath Frisk responds quickly,

"When can I go home?"

"Do you want to hear about the book I am reading?" she asks ignoring Frisk's question,

"Rude," Chara mutters quietly,

"It is called ' 72 uses for snails' how about it?"

"How do I exit the ruins?" Frisk asks quietly with sad pleading eyes, she did not want to hurt Toriel's feelings, but had no choice, Toriel sighs and closes the book,

"I have to do something. Stay here," she then gets up and leaves the room, Chara looks to Frisk confused,

"We follow," Frisk tells him quietly, he nods and follows her lead down the basement stairs. They find Toriel some ways down a corridor,

"You wish to know how to return 'home,' do you not?" she asks, "Ahead of us lies the end of the ruins, a one-way exit to the rest of the underground. I am going to destroy it, no one will ever be able to leave again."

"What!" Chara shouts, Frisk gives a hand signal for him to wait and calm down,

"Now be a good child and go upstairs," Toriel tells her before hurrying onward, Frisk continues to follow, "every human that falls down here meets the same fate, I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die." she sighs heavily, "you naive child, if you leave the ruins, they," she pauses before continuing with raw emotion barely being contained, "Asgore will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand? Go to your room." she continues forward again still Frisk follows, Chara close behind, "Do not try to stop me, this is your final warning," she hurries forward to a large purple door and stops in front of it, turning around she looks down at Frisk with a hurt expression, "You want to leave so badly? " she huffs, "You are just like the others, there is only one solution to this, prove yourself," she sweeps an arm out summoning fire to her open palm, "prove to me you are strong enough to survive." with her last words Frisk's SOUL is pulled forth and Toriel sends a wave of fire towards her. Gasping out in pain Frisk stumbles back,

"Frisk, are you okay?" Chara crouches beside her as Frisk pats her arm where her sweater caught fire, "you have to fight her," Frisk shakes her head and dodges the next attack, "if you find it too hard I can help, all you need to do is ask," he insists, still Frisk refuses, refuses to fight and refuses Chara's assistance,

"What are you doing? Attack or run away!" Toriel pleads, "What are you proving this way? Fight me or leave!" Frisk is hit by another attack, it hurts everywhere now and her sweater has more burn holes, yet she still refuses to fight, Chara watches with worry, "Stop it, stop looking at me that way." Toriel sends a wave of fireballs at Frisk, but none of them hit. Frisk simply stands still and they just fly past her, "I know you want to go home, but... but please, go upstairs now, I promise I will take good care of you here," there are tears in Toriel's eyes and Frisk is finding it hard to hold in her own emotions as she takes a step forward, "I know we do not have much but... we can have a good life here. What are you making this so difficult? Please, go upstairs," it broke Frisk's heart, it hurt more the second time, but she had to stay determined, it would be worth it in the end. Toriel lets out a pitiful laugh, "Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child," she shakes her head, "no, I understand. You would just be unhappy trapped down there; the ruins are very small once you get used to them. It would not be right for you to grow up in a place like this, my expectations... my loneliness..." Toriel looks down, a deep sadness across her features. Frisk glances at Chara and they both share a pained look, "My fear... for you, my child, I will pit them aside, if you truly wish to leave the ruins I will not stop you. However, when you leave please do not come back. I hope you understand," Toriel wraps Frisk in a loving embrace, warmth floods her as Toriel lets her healing magic flow into the child, "Goodbye, my child." She then leaves them alone, heading back upstairs.

"Are you okay," Chara asks with concern placing a hand on Frisk's shoulder, she just nods and dries her eyes, "maybe it would have been more of a mercy to..." Frisk places a hand over his mouth to stop his next words,

"I am not hurting anyone," she says adamantly,

"What if its someone who really wants to hurt you Frisk, what if they won't stop?" he demands, eyes growing dark with his sudden burst of anger, Frisk just shakes her head and pushes through the door ahead of them,

"Now you sound like him," she grumbles ignoring Chara's next rant, she has to focus. She hurries along the corridor and finally comes across Flowey waiting for her with a grin,

"So, you really are going to try it, do you think this time will be different?" he asks,

"What's he talking about?" Chara demands,

"It's still kill or be killed, your mercy won't change anything, but if you want to keep going, maybe you can do something I didn't," his grin widens, "go ahead, don't kill anyone, I'll be watching and waiting," he begins to laugh manically before slipping away underground.

"Frisk, why does it seem like you know one another?" Chara asks,

"I don't want to talk about it," Frisk pouts, "let's just keep going,"

"Frisk, have you done all this before?" he asks, she chooses not to respond, "Frisk answer me,"

"It doesn't matter Chara, please, let's just keep going," Frisk pleads, her golden eyes filled with an earnest desperation, he lets out a sigh and releases his anger,

"Okay, but this conversation isn't over," he warns,

"Hmm," she simply responds and continues on, "will you tell me how you died?" she suddenly asks,

"Huh? Um," he frowns, "Actually I'm not really sure how I died,"

"You made it sound like the monsters killed you," she says glancing at him as she heads forward,

"Well I died down here, how else would I have died if not by the hands of monsters?" he grumbles, he had a point, there had been others who fell and died at the hands of monsters before, Frisk remembers their SOUL's,

"We'll find out," she promises, "and I will find a way to help you,"

"Frisk, I've told you, don't worry about that. You gotta worry about keeping yourself out of trouble," he gives her a small smile, "I'll help where I can, you just got to let me okay,"

"We'll see," Frisk responds coming to a stop at a set of large heavy doors, "ready for the next part of our journey?" Chara nods and Frisk pushes hard, the doors slowly open. A blistering cold gust of wind whips around them causing Frisk to shiver as she steps out into the bright light, booted feet crunching into pure white snow. She grins and starts to skip forward with excitement, she was looking forward to meeting the skeleton brothers again.


	4. 3 - Skeleton Puns

Chapter 3 - A True Pacifist - Skeleton Puns

He stares up at the familiar ceiling, wondering why he was actually awake and why he was on the floor. Something felt off to him and not because he was on the floor, he only ever got this feeling when... "that damn weed," he grumbles forcing himself to sit up, but for some reason that thought did not seem quite right. Things were different last time, he was sure of it, "I need to figure out what the hell happened, _again_ ," he rubs his face in an attempt to push away the lingering feel of tiredness,

"SANS!" his brother's voice yells from beyond the bedroom door, "ARE YOU AWAKE? YOU'RE LATE FOR YOUR SENTRY DUTY!" he groans, not really wanting to go do his job, "SANS! WAKE UP YOU LAZYBONES!"

"Am up bro," he calls while jumping to his feet and slipping into his pink fluffy slippers, he grabs his blue hoodie and heads out of the room,

"FINALLY! I HAVE TO GO TRAIN WITH UNDYNE, I WILL CHECK ON YOU IN A WHILE TO MAKE SURE YOU AREN'T SLEEPING ON THE JOB!" with that his brother hurries out the door.

Sans takes his time, choosing to walk to his sentry post rather than use a shortcut, he was deep in thought as he walked, he could not quite remember the last timeline, "should have checked the monitor," he sighs, "heh, welp nothing can do right now 'cept go see how my friend beyond the door is," he was trying to remember what their last conversation would have been but was not too sure. Deciding he would actually take a shortcut he appears in front of the large doors and frowns down at the disturbed snow. The doors had been opened and there was a small set of footsteps leading out, "did she actually leave?" he ponders and glances the way the footsteps go, in the distance he spots a figure in blue, narrowing his gaze he recognises what it is, "human..." then he remembers, the last conversation, "dammit, I made a promise," with a small aggravated sigh he heads off, following the human.

Frisk wrapped her arms tightly around herself in an attempt to brace herself against the cold, it was not working very well, "Maybe you should have gotten a coat or something from Toriel's place, I bet there was clothing and such in that dresser," Chara comments, Frisk glares at him,

"I can handle this," she says with a determined pout, he seems completely unaffected by the blistering cold wind whipping around them, gritting her teeth she starts moving forward, thankful at least for her thick boots. She did not want to admit Chara was right, she should have looked in the dresser to see if there was anything that could have helped, after all she had known she would have to trudge through snow and it would be a while before getting to Waterfall where is was at least warmer if not wetter. She was so lost in thought that she tripped over a large branch and face planted into the snow, Chara howls with laughter, "not funny," Frisk grumbles quietly while pushing back to her feet, now she was even more colder than before,

"I'm sorry," he responded between gasps for air, "are you hurt?"

"Only my pride," she huffs and storms off,

"Aww don't be angry at me Frisky," Chara floats in the air next to her, "please I didn't mean to upset you,"

"It's fi..." they both suddenly jump as a loud cracking sound rips through the air,

"What the..." Chara whispers with a twinge of fear, they both turn to look back, seeing the branch broken. Taking the few steps back to it they look down, "how did?"

"Doesn't matter," Frisk shrugs and picks up a piece of the broken branch, a small twig, _'this will be useful later'_ Chara gives her an approving nod,

"Good idea, arm yourself, we don't know what broke this, it's most likely a threat," Chara starts to move away while glancing around, Frisk shakes her head, gripping the stick loosely in her right hand and moving on. Soon they began to hear footsteps, Chara got really nervous but Frisk simply sped up a little then came to a stop at the bridge with its too wide to stop anyone gate, "What are you doing? You can easily walk through there, somethings coming, come on!" she chose to ignore Chara as the footsteps got steadily louder, a small smile tugging at her lips as they stopped behind her,

"Human," a deep voice she recognises with joy says from right behind her, "Don't you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand." she did so, slowly and reaching out with her left hand she grips the others as he holds it out, a loud farting noise ripples into the air. She grins at the skeleton with the permanent smile and lets out a giggle, "heheh, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick, it's _always_ funny,"

"Wow, seriously," Chara scowls, "lame," Frisk had to ignore him, after all, no one but she could see or hear him and she did not want to look like she was crazy,

"Anyways, you're a human, right?" the skeleton asks, Frisk nods in response, "that's hilarious. I'm Sans, Sans the skeleton,"

"Frisk," she responds with a quiet voice while pointing to herself, she had not told her name last time and this time she was determined things would be different, "I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now,"

"Frisk..." Chara hisses, he wants her to run or attack, she can tell by the way he is watching Sans with a cold calculated look,

"But, y'know, I don't really care about capturing anybody,"

"Wait what?" Chara frowns deeply, Frisk smiles at Sans,

"Now my brother, Papyrus, he's a human-hunting fanatic, hey, actually, I think that's him over there." They all look into the distance over the bridge and true enough a tall figure can be seen heading this way, "I have an idea, go through this gate thingy,"

"No, go run and hide, don't listen to this bone bag," Frisk tries not to sigh in annoyance at Chara's words, she was glad the skeleton could not hear him,

"Yeah, go right through, my bro made the bars to wide to stop anyone." they quickly cross the bridge, "quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp," Frisk hurries over to the lamp and hides behind it,

"Right, because a lamp is going to hide you," Chara comments with sarcasm, soon another skeleton comes rushing onto the scene, a much taller skeleton,

"Sup bro?" Sans grins,

"YOU KNOW WHAT 'SUP' BROTHER! IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RE-CALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!" Frisk could not help but grin at Papyrus' outburst,

"Staring at this lamp, it's really cool, do you wanna look?" Sans responds, Chara looks really angry at his words but Frisk places a hand on him and shakes her head slightly,

"NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!" Papyrus shouts while stomping a foot, "THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS," he pulls a pose, his read scarf fluttering behind him, "WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT, RECOGNITION, I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, FRIEND?"

"Wow he's special," Chara mutters, Frisk nods, she thinks Papyrus is special too, just not in the way Chara is insinuating,

"I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING,"

"Hmm, maybe this lamp will help you," Sans tells his brother,

"Frisk he's trying to get you captured," Chara whines, again Frisk silences him and shakes her head,

"SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING! YOU LAZYBONES!" Papyrus starts stomping his foot again, "ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERYDAY!"

"Hey, take it easy, I've gotten a _ton_ of work done today, a skele _ton_ ," Sans says and winks,

"SANS!" Papyrus yells in annoyance, Frisk has to bite her tongue not to giggle to loudly,

"Come on, you're smiling,"

"I AM AND I HATE IT!" Papyrus grumbles loudly then he sighs, "WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION?"

"Wow, sounds like you're really working yourself..."

"Oh no," Chara rolls his eyes, Frisk places a hand over her mouth,

"Down to the bone,"

"UGH, I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES, AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE 'BACKBONE' INTO IT!" he then hurries off laughing, Sans chuckles before calling out,

"OK, you can come out now," Frisk comes out and walks over to him smiling gratefully, "you oughta get going, he might come back, and it he does you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes," he says while winking, Frisk giggles quietly and his gin widens just a little more before she turns to leave, "actually, hey," she looks back at him to see him scratching the back of his skull before stuffing his hands into the pockets of his blue hoodie, "hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favour?"

"Say no," Chara demands, Frisk once again ignores him and nods at Sans,

"I was thinking," he glances away briefly, "my brother's been kind of down lately, he's never seen a human before and seeing you might just make his day,"

"No Frisk, say no, it's too dangerous!" Chara is bristling as he floats around them,

"Don't worry, he's not dangerous," Sans says, making both of Frisk and Chara wonder if he can in fact actually see the ghost boy, "even if he tries to be," Frisk nods again, "thanks a million, I'll be up ahead," he then walks off, back the way they came,

"Uhh, what just happened, and why is he heading that way if he's going to meet you up ahead?" Chara seems utterly confused,

"It's fine, come on," Frisk encourages while moving on through the snow and trying to keep her mind off just how cold it was,

"Hmph," Chara crosses his arms following but glancing back at that lamp, a small smile flickers across his face, Frisk frowns at him, "the convenience of that lamp fills you with determination," Frisk grins at him, the flush of warmth from a save point felt amazing if only brief. They had to keep going. It was not that long before they came across the skeleton brothers again, "how..." Chara glared at the shorter skeleton not understanding how he got here before they did,

"SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE," Papyrus was talking to Sans as they stepped into view, he looks at Frisk, then looks at Sans, then looks at Frisk, then again at Sans, this happens a few times, making Frisk giggle and even Chara smile in amusement, "SANS! OH MY GOD! IS THAT A HUMAN!?" he whispers while bending down slightly, although it definitely was not a whisper, Sans grins,

"Uhh, actually, I think that's a rock," everyone looks at a small rock on the path behind Frisk,

"OH," Papyrus responds sounding disappointed,

"Hey, what's that in front of the rock?"

"OH MY GOD!" Papyrus leans down slightly and attempts to whisper again, "IS...IS THAT A HUMAN?"

"Yes," Sans whispers back with a nod,

"OH MY GOD! SANS! I FINALLY DID IT! UNDYNE WILL...I'M GONNA...I'LL BE SO... POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!" he raises his fist to his mouth and coughs as if to gain their attention, "HUMAN!" he points at Frisk, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN...THEN! I'M NOT SURE WHAT'S NEXT," he glances away briefly in thought, "IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE...ONLY IF YOU DARE!" he then runs off laughing excitedly,

"Well, that went well," Sans comments as Frisk walks over trying not to shiver so badly, "don't sweat it kid, I'll keep an eyesocket out for ya," he winks, Frisk smiles at him before moving to continue but he stops her, "you okay kid," he had noticed her shaking, "you look chilled to the bone," Frisk just shrugs and tries to continue on again only to be stopped once more, "here kid," Sans shrugs off his blue jacket and drops it over her shoulders, she looks at him questioningly, "don't worry about it, we don't want you turning into an icicle now do we, you can return it to me later," he waves and walks off,

"Well that was, nice, of him," Chara comments, Frisk slips her arms into the sleeves, it is a little big for her but she is grateful for the warmth,

"Hmm," she smiles, "who would have thought, it's warm," she chuckles,

"Well it is kind of fluffy," Chara notes,

"I don't mean like that silly, I guess even though he's a skeleton, he still gives off body heat," the jacket warmed her up quickly as she snuggles into it, she lets out a little giggle when she gets a whiff of the faint smell of ketchup, "come on let's keep going!" she jogs off, Chara having no choice but to follow. After a few steps their phone rings, both startled, Frisk hurries to pull it out of her bag, which is now under Sans jacket. Her eyes widen at the number, it was not Toriel's but she recognises it, she was sure it was the same number that rang from before she reset, "h..hello?" she stutters out quietly,

"Hey," it was Sans' voice, "is your refrigerator running?" he asks, both Frisk and Chara frown,

"No?" Frisk responds slowly and rather confused,

"OK, I'll send someone over to fix it, thanks for letting me know, good communication is important." The call ends leaving them quite perplexed, _'what was that about?'_


	5. 4 - Jinks, Puzzles, Capers and Japers

Chapter 4 - A True Pacifist - Jinks, Puzzles, Capers and Japers

"Well, that went well," Sans comments feeling happy that his brother was happy, the kid comes walking over, "don't sweat it kid, I'll keep an eye socket out for ya," he winks but quickly frowns, _'are humans supposed to be this pale?'_ he also notes they are visibly shaking even while smiling, he stops the kid as they start to walk past him, "you okay kid," he could feel them shivering and they were really cold, "you look chilled to the bone," the kid just shrugs at him and tries to continue, he stops them again, _'got to keep that promise'_ "here kid," he shrugs out of his favourite hoodie and places it over their small shoulders, they frown and tilt their head slightly, _'cute'_ "don't worry about it, we don't want you turning into an icicle now do we, you can return it to me later," he waves and walks off, trying to banish the thought of him thinking the kid was cute, "they are a human, and a kid," although he actually was not sure on the humans age, they were almost eye level with himself, "not that that counts for nothing," he grumbles and pulls his phone out. After messing around on his phone, he spots an outgoing call registered on the device, to a number he did not recognise, _'has someone been messing with it?'_ deciding the best way to find out would be to ring it, he presses the call button,

"h..hello?" a small voice stutters out quietly, shock ripples through him, _'the kid?'_

"Hey," he responds, _'crap think quickly they will be weirded out by the fact I have their number,'_ "is your refrigerator running?" he asks, _'oh smart, real smart. They definitely don't think you're weird now,'_

"No?" Frisk responds slowly and sounding confused,

"OK, I'll send someone over to fix it, thanks for letting me know, good communication is important." he ends the call and face palms, "good communication is important? Really?" with a disgruntled sigh he walks quickly to find his brother but then a thought crosses his mind, "I really should let the kid know..." which means he is going to have to wait. He was dozing when he felt a light tap on his arm, "hey," he greets, the kid smiles at him, he was relieved to see they did not look as pale anymore, "listen, here's something important to remember, you see my brother has a very special attack," he begins, the kid nods to let him know they are listening, "if you see a blue attack, don't move and it won't hurt you," he ponders for a moment before chuckling lightly, "here's an easy way to keep it in mind, imagine a stop sign, when you see a stop sign, you stop, right?" the kid nods, "stop signs are red, so imagine a blue stop sign instead, simple right? When fighting, think about blue stop signs," they give him an amused smile but nod before waving at him and hurrying onward, he watches them for a moment noting on how they seem to mumble quietly to themselves. He then remembered he had to catch up with his brother so took a shortcut, hoping the kid would be okay.

Papyrus looks down at him with disapproval as he appears beside him, "SHORTCUTS? REALLY SANS? YOU'RE SO LAZY! YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!"

"I think that's called sleeping," Sans responds with a chuckle,

"EXCUSES, EXCUSES!" the skeleton brothers suddenly realise the human has appeared again, Papyrus frowns lightly glancing from the human to Sans,

"The kid was cold, wouldn't want them missing out on your awesome puzzles now would we," Sans shrugs, knowing his brother was confused as to why the human was wearing his hoodie,

"RIGHT YOU ARE BROTHER!" Papyrus agrees readily, Sans let's out a sigh and glances over at the human, they seem to be muttering again.

Frisk and Chara came across the skeleton brothers once more, Papyrus seems to be complaining about Sans' laziness again, "Hang on, we just saw him back there, how in the hell is he getting ahead of us?" Chara demands,

"Maybe he just knows a shortcut," Frisk responds quietly,

"Right, sure, like he can just walk one way and appear somewhere else," Chara says with heavy sarcasm,

"Yeah, it's called teleportation Chara," Frisk comments drily,

"OH-HO! THE HUMAN ARRIVES!" the brothers seem to have noticed them, "IN ORDER TO STOP YOU, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES!"

"There is no way that lazy bag of bones has come up with a puzzle..." Chara scoffs,

"Shush Chara," Frisk grumbles quietly,

"I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE QUITE SHOCKING!" he grins, Frisk smiles in amusement, "FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE!"

"Wait, that was a pun right... I got the impression he didn't like puns and now he's made at least, what two?" Chara frowns, "and invisible electricity maze, that's just insane,"

"WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB," he holds up a large orb in his hand, "WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! SOUND LIKE FUN?"

"Fun?!" Chara growls and turns to Frisk, "let me help Frisk, I can make it so you won't feel any pain I promise,"

"BECAUSE THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE, IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL I THINK," Papyrus frowns slightly,

"Ya 'think!" Chara yells, sadly only Frisk can hear him so his anger is lost on the skeleton,

"OK, YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW,"

"Frisk..." Chara gives her a worried look as she steps forward, her hand grazes against one of the walls and suddenly Papyrus gets zapped, "what..." Frisk glances at Chara with a small knowing smile while Sans looks at his brother with a little concern,

"SANS! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Papyrus demands while stomping his foot in frustration,

"I think the human has to hold the orb," Sans answers while obviously trying to withhold his chuckles,

"OH, OKAY," Papyrus walks over to Frisk, through the maze, conveniently leaving footprints in the snow to show the correct route, "HOLD THIS PLEASE!" he throws the orb in the air and runs back to his brother's side, Frisk catches the orb and somehow balances it on her head,

"There is no way you can keep that thing on your head," Chara giggles, Frisk just smiles,

"Challenge accepted," she mutters to him quietly,

"OKAY, TRY NOW!"

Following in the skeletons footsteps, Frisk slowly makes her way through the maze, keeping her arms tight by her side so as not to accidentally touch the sides. After a few minutes she is out, and the orb is still balanced on her head, "INCREDIBLE! YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL! YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY... TOO EASILY! HOWEVER! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER SANS! YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM!" he runs off again laughing loudly,

"Oh, I'm sure it will be sooo good," Chara rolls his eyes, Frisk turns to Sans who had not followed after his brother,

"Hey, thanks," he says walking over to her, "my brother seems like he's having fun," he ruffles her hair softly, "by the way, did you see that weird outfit he's wearing?" Frisk frowns ever so slightly, she did not find it weird, "we made that a few weeks ago for a costume party, he hasn't worn anything else since..."

"That's nasty, doesn't he like shower?" Chara asks glaring at the skeleton,

"keeps calling it his 'battle body', man," he pauses and looks proud, "isn't my brother cool?" Frisk smiles brightly and nods, she thinks Papyrus is definitely cool, Sans cheekbones glow dimly with a dusting of blue which Frisk is not sure why, or even what that means, "you better keep moving kid," he tells her while pulling the hood of the jacket up over her head, "stay warm yeah?" she nods and continues on, when they look back he is gone.

"I don't like him," Chara comments,

"Really? I couldn't tell," Frisk chuckles, "why don't you like him, I think he's funny, and kind, he let me borrow his jacket," she smiles as she snuggles deeper into the warm jacket, the hood almost covering her amber eyes,

"I just don't, and you shouldn't trust him Frisk, don't let him lure you into a false sense of security, things might have gone well with Toriel..."

"And all the other monsters we have come across..." Frisk adds earning a small glare,

"BUT, there is no proof that these skeletons will be the same,"

"Chara, if you show someone a kindness, you shall in return receive in kind," Frisk smiles warmly and skips ahead,

"Frisk, you're too nice!" Chara whines while following her, "someday, someone is going to take advantage of that if you're not careful," he warns,

"I'll be fine, if that ever happens I have you to protect me, right?" she grins up at him,

"Uhh, sure..." Chara responds seeming to be slightly flustered and making Frisk giggle. Along the way to finding the next puzzle they came across a snowball game,

"Kind of like mini-golf," Frisk comments and proceeds to play, she gets the ball to the hole within ten seconds and grins as a red flag pops up with a note attached,

"Bravery, justice, integrity, kindness, perseverance, patience. Using these, you were able to win at 'Ball Game' you are awarded fifty gold," Chara reads out loud, "that was extremely accurate," he comments watching her pulling out coins from the hole before putting them in her bag,

"What can I say, I guess I was determined," she chuckles,

"Think you could do it again though?" Chara challenges, Frisk grins and runs back to the start. Once again, the red flag rises and she looks at Chara with gloating pride, "try as you might, you continue to be yourself," Chara reads from a new note on the flag, "you are awarded ten gold, awesome," afterwards they both hurry, Frisk was starting to feel tired and she knew she had lots more to get through before she could even think about resting. They did come across Sans again, he seemed to have been watching them. They had a small conversation about him selling treats, which turned out to be fried snow, which made Chara find the skeleton even weirder but Frisk found it funny and had played along. Now they once again stood across from them.

"HUMAN! I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR..." Papyrus begins but then pauses, "SANS! WHERE'S THE PUZZLE!"

"It's right there on the ground, trust me there's no way they can get past this one" they all look at a small piece of paper sat on the ground between them, Frisk briskly walked over to it and picked it up, Chara peeks over her shoulder and groans,

"A word search, I hate those," Frisk shrugs and frowns down at the paper wanting to do the word search but not having a pen, all she had was a ribbon, a spider donut, a slice of pie, a snowball and a stick. She gets an idea. Using the stick, she traces out the puzzle in the snow,

"SANS WHAT IS THIS!" Papyrus demands while walking closer to Frisk, "A WORD SEARCH! SANS!"

"I know, should have used today's crossword instead,"

"WHAT!? CROSSWORD!? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT! IN MY OPINION JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST," while he talks to Sans he unconsciously starts helping Frisk much to her delighted surprise,

"What? Really, dude? That easy-peasy word scramble? That's for baby bones," Sans chuckles also coming over to Frisk and joining in the now group activity,

"UN. BELIEVABLE. HUMAN! SOLVE THIS DISPUTE! WHICH IS HARDER? JUNIOR JUMBLE OR... A CROSSWORD?" he practically sneers the last part making her giggle, she ponders for a moment glancing from one brother to the other,

"Jumble," she finally responds quietly and turns back to the word search,

"HA HA YES! HUMANS MUST BE VERY INTELLIGENT! IF THEY ALSO FIND JUNIOR JUMBLE SO DIFFICULT!" Frisk smiles happily. They finish the word search upon realising the last word cannot be done due to what must be a typo, at which point Papyrus gives his brother a look that clearly says junior jumble would have been a better choice and hurries off,

"Thanks for saying ' junior jumble' just to appease my brother," Sans says as they watch the tall skeleton hurry off in the distance, "yesterday he got stumped trying to 'solve' the horoscope," he glances at her with amusement, "you should keep on going," he pats her head before walking away.

"You just going to pretend that you _totally_ chose junior jumble because you were _just_ being nice?" Chara chuckles,

"I was being nice," Frisk protests,

"Hmmm," Chara leans his face closer to hers and raises an eyebrow,

"I can't help it if I find them hard," she pouts, "plus it did make Papyrus happy so it's not as if I lied," she crosses her arms making Chara laugh,

"You're such a kid Frisky,"

"I'm not a kid, I'm fifteen!" Frisk exclaims while storming off,

"Seriously!" Chara seems shocked as he hurries after her, "you look twelve," he teases, Frisk just glares at him, "hmm, that means you're only a year younger than me," Frisk glances at him, _'huh I was wrong then, I figured he was a little older than that,'_ "you're not mad at me are you?" he asks when she does not respond, she shrugs, "please don't be upset with me," he wraps his arms around her neck and floats behind her, "please, pretty please,"

"Fine," Frisk finally gives in, "I can't exactly stay annoyed at you forever," she smiles slightly and he grins,

"You're the best Frisky," he chuckles,

"Damn right!" Frisk smirks,

"Hey what's that?" Chara asks floating on ahead, Frisk hurries after him and comes to a stop at a table with a plate of pasta, "it's frozen," they both glance to the side where a microwave sits on another table, "is this some kind of trick..."

"I kinda wish I could eat it," Frisk pouts,

"Hungry?" Chara asks, Frisk nods, "you still have that pie, right?"

"Yeah but that will be more useful later, I don't want to waste it just because I'm a little hungry,"

"Frisk, it's food, we can get more food," Chara pushes but Frisk shakes her head,

"Monster food heals Chara, I don't want to use it when I have full health," Frisk informs and receives a long sigh from Chara, "hey look, another mouse hole," she points to the wall, attempting to divert his attention. It seems to work as a grin spreads quickly across his face while he glances around, his crimson eyes then meet her golden ones,

"Knowing the mouse might one day find a way to heat up the spaghetti, it fills you with determination," he grins when Frisk giggles.

They soon continued on, meeting Lesser dog, whose neck grew and grew when Frisk petted him, Chara was utterly confused by it. They then met more dog monsters, Dogamy and Dogaressa, Frisk had to roll in the snow and make them think she was a weird puppy, they soon left her alone, "These dog like monsters are weird, first the blind one, then the growing neck, now those two, what next?"

"I think those two are very cute," Frisk comments,

"Of course you do," Chara chuckles while patting her head, "let's just keep moving, it's getting darker," it was in fact getting darker, though neither of them understood how it could be so light in the first place, they were after all underground. They come across Papyrus again after a small puzzle, he seems shocked to see them,

"WHAT!? HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP?"

"What trap?" Chara mutters,

"AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY...IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?"

"Wait he means the frozen pasta..." Chara found that hilarious, Frisk nods her head in answer to Papyrus' question,

"REALLY!? WOWIE, YOU RESISTED THE FLAVOR OF MY HOMECOOKED PASTA JUST SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME?"

"Oh lord he's so innocent," Chara is curled in a ball floating in the air, Frisk did not find this half as funny as he did,

"FRET NOT HUMAN! I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT! HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH NYEH!" and he skips off excitedly,

"But will it be edible this time?" Chara giggles, Frisk rolls her eyes at him and hurries on while huddling deeper into Sans' hoodie, she was shivering once again. Up ahead they found Papyrus again and he shows them the next puzzle which Frisk literally flew through, they were congratulated and then he left again. Sans was waiting just past the puzzle, he has a worried frown on his face as he watches Frisk walk up to him,

"Good job on solving it so quickly, you didn't even need my help,"

"Not like he helped before," Chara comments, but Frisk does not think that is quite true,

"Which is great, 'cause I love doing absolutely nothing," he chuckles, Frisk smiles, "you okay kid?" he asks his grin dropping a little, Frisk nods, "welp if you're sure, not long to go until you reach Snowdin now," he gives her a pat on the head and walks off. Frisk made it through the next few puzzles in a daze. Then they met another dog monster, Chara just stared at it,

"Woah, he's huge!" he gasps, Frisk smiles and plays with Greater dog for a while before they say goodbye and she pushes on, she really wanted to find somewhere to just sleep now. She was so tired and cold. They meet the skeleton brothers on the bridge, and she sighs with some relief, this was the end, after this she would be at Snowdin.

"HUMAN! THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!" both Frisk and Chara look around as various weapons, including a flame thrower and cannon come into view, even a dog?

"You have to be kidding me, right?" Chara asks, "Just say the word Frisk and I can help,"

"WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN! ARE YOU READY!?" Frisk nods, even while swaying slightly, "BECAUSE! I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!" there is a long pause where Papyrus just watches Frisk and Frisk watches Papyrus and tries not to let on how dizzy they were starting to feel,

"Well? What's the holdup?" Sans asks after a few minutes have gone by,

"HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP!? I'M...I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!" there is another long pause,

"That, uh, doesn't look very activated,"

"WELL! THIS CHALLENGE! IT SEEMS... TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH," he glances away with a worried frown but soon grins confidently again, "YEAH! WE CAN'T USE THIS ONE! I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! ANYWAY, IT GOES!" and it all moved back and the trap was gone as Papyrus lets out a relieved sigh, he realises Frisk is watching him with curiosity, "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!? THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! NYEH! HEH!...HEH?" seemingly confused with himself he hurries off. Frisk shrugs and walks across the bridge to Sans,

"I don't know what my brother's going to do now," Sans comments, "if I were you, I would make sure I understand blue attacks, but don't worry too much and listen, there's an inn in the village get yourself a room and rest up," Frisk nods in agreement and hurries on. As they finally enter the cheery little town of Snowdin Frisk feels more than relief,

"The sight of such a friendly town fills you with determination," Chara chuckles, Frisk gives him a small smile, "hey are you okay?" Frisk nods and yawns then walks over to the inn. She got a room and headed up, collapsing on the bed and within seconds was deep asleep. Chara watches her with concern, "sleep well Frisky, you're going to need your energy." He then settled down beside her on the bed and simply watched her sleep.


	6. 5 - Feverish Battle

Frisk woke up many hours later, sitting up in bed she notices Chara sat slightly slumped down on the bed, eyes closed, _'is he asleep? I thought he said he didn't sleep?'_ she ponders while rubbing her eyes, she slides of the bed gently trying not to disturb him. As her feet touch the ground and she tries to stand the room swims and she has to grip the bed for support, "got up too fast is all," she whispers to herself and stumbles to the bathroom. Looking at her reflection she frowns at the mess her hair is in, while attempting to tame it by running her fingers through the tangles she takes note of her rosy cheeks, "it's just because I've been sleeping," she tells herself, she sighs and washes her face feeling a little more awake,

"FRISK!" Chara's sudden panicked tone yells loudly,

"Bathroom," Frisk croaks out, he phases through the door and comes to a stop beside her,

"You scared me," he grumbles then frowns, "hey are you okay?" he reaches a hand up to her face but she pulls away before he can make contact,

"I'm fine, I just woke up," Frisk tells him while turning back to the mirror,

"I don't know about that Frisky, you don't look well,"

"You don't have a reflection," Frisk points out distracting him,

"Frisky, I'm a ghost, of course I don't have a reflection," he chuckles, she smiles slightly and heads out of the bathroom, "where are you going?"

"To meet Papyrus," Frisk informs him,

"But you should rest more, not to mention eat something,"

"I'll eat after," Frisk grumbles and leaves the room ignoring Chara's continued objections. It did not matter that her vision was a little blurred, or that her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool. She had a job to do and sitting in bed was not going to get it done. She waved a goodbye to the inn keeper and headed out to the edge of Snowdin village, barely taking notice of the monsters around and pulling Sans' hoodie tighter around herself, it had started snowing, heavily.

As she expected, Papyrus was waiting at the edge of town, standing in the way of her continuing on, "HUMAN," he began upon sensing her presence, "ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS, SOMEHOW, I FEEL LIKE YOU'RE AN OLD FRIEND...EVEN THOUGH I'VE NEVER ACTUALLY MET YOU BEFORE! I CAN'T EXPLAIN WHY I FEEL THIS WAY...DID I MEET YOU ONLINE? I HAVE MANY _'SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTIONS'_ IT'S HARD TO KEEP TRACK OF THEM ALL, JUST A DOZEN MORE AND... I'LL FINALLY REACH DOUBLE DIGITS!..." he suddenly looks shocked, "HEY, WAIT A SECOND! YOU CAN'T BE MY FRIEND! YOU'RE HUMAN! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ALMOST TRICKED ME INTO NOT DEFEATING YOU! WHOOPSIE DOOPSIE!" her soul flew out and in the area around them bones shot up crisscrossing over one another, preventing her from running,

"Frisk..." Chara was standing close beside her and places a hand on her shoulder, "you're in no condition to be doing this,"

"I'm fine," Frisk mutters quietly so Papyrus does not hear,

"Look I can help, you just need to give me permission, I'll temporarily possess your body and do the fight for you," Chara pushes, Frisk glances at him slightly and frowns, "and as a bonus you wouldn't feel anything, no pain, you can rest,"

"I'm fine," she repeats sternly, Chara's eyes darken for a brief moment as he gets a little annoyed but then Frisk has to dodge bones flying towards her, she notices the concerned look on the skeletons face, to diffuse that concern she gives him a friendly smile and a wink,

"WHAT!? FL-FLIRTING!? SO, YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS! W-WELL! I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!" he exclaims all flustered, a slight orange glow appearing on his cheek bones, Frisk had never intended it to be a flirt, she smiles in innocent amusement,

"I can make spaghetti," she tells him quietly with a shrug,

"OH NO! YOU'RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS! I GUESS THIS MEANS I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU...? LET'S DATE L-LATER! AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!" the fight continues, Frisk manages to dodge more bones, when suddenly it feels like her body freezes just as a bone comes flying directly towards her. It passes through her, leaving her unharmed, _'oh it was blue'_ she figures, but she did not understand how she just froze, glancing at Chara she can tell it was not him, he simply stands glancing at her with worry then glaring at Papyrus. Everything starts to blur more but with gritted teeth and surge of determination she keeps going.

...

The door slamming shut woke him and he tumbled off the bed, "ouch," he grumbles rubbing the back of his skull, "what time is it?" he asked himself looking around for his clock, he had been up late the night previously. After making sure the kid got to the inn just fine he had headed for his secret lab so he could check the monitors, only to find it wrecked, he knew who did it to if he counted the vines left at the scene, he vowed he would end that flowers existence one day, "Y'know, you might not want to be lazing about on the floor like the smiley trash bag you are," a voice he found highly irritating commented, he glared at the flower he had just been thinking about, wondering what it would feel like to rip him apart, petal by petal, _'entertaining to a point but killing him never has stopped him before, damn weed just keeps coming back,'_

"Well if it isn't my favourite _bud_ ," Sans greets,

"Look bone head I only came here to advise you," Flowey glares at Sans,

"Okay then, why don't you _chloro-fill_ me in?"

"Stop, I see what you're doing,"

"What do you mean? Am I making you _pun-comfortable_?"

"Uhhhh," Flowey growls, Sans sits up and grins,

"Hey I have a question for you, why couldn't the gardener plant any flowers?"

"No,"

"He hadn't _botany_ seeds!"

"I'm done, I was going to help you, but no, I've changed my mind, I'm leaving,"

"Oh come on buddy, you don't need to _leaf_ me hanging here," Sans chuckles as the flower disappears in a huff of anger, "welp that entertained me," he got to his feet and started looking around for his hoodie, "oh wait, the kid has it, wonder how they doing," heading out of his room he finds the house silent, "did Paps leave?" it suddenly dawns on him where his brother would most likely be so he ran out of the house and into a storm of snow, he chooses to take a shortcut to the edge of town and sure enough there he finds his brother, and he has started a fight with the kid. Bones were flying towards the kid, they dodged them all, but then another one was coming, they would not be able to move in time, luckily it was blue, "you gotta freeze kid, blue means stop," he mutters and uses his magic to hold the kid in place. He continues to help the kid with his magic throughout the battle whenever they seem to falter and particularly when his brother summons that ridiculously tall bone attack. Setting her gently down on the snow he breathes a sigh of relief, knowing Papyrus would most likely spare them now he takes a shortcut back home and drops onto the sofa in exhaustion.

...

Chara wanted to hurt the tall skeleton, _'can't he see she's sick!'_ he thought angrily, Frisk would not admit to it but Chara could tell she was not well, the cold had gotten to her, suddenly the skeleton stopped sending attacks her way, "NYOO HOO HOO, I CAN'T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU... UNDYNE'S GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED IN ME. I'LL NEVER JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD...AND...MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT!" Chara could only stare at him in disbelief, Frisk took a couple of unsteady steps forward and tapped her hand on her chest, "REALLY!? YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS, WITH ME?" Frisk is nodding, Chara disliked this situation even more, "WELL THEN... I GUESS... I GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU, WOWIE! WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD OUR FIRST DATE... AND I'VE ALREADY MANAGED TO HIT THE FRIEND ZONE! WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE PALS... WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM? YOU TAUGHT ME A LOT, HUMAN. I HEREBY GRANT YOU PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH! AND I'LL GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE. CONTINUE FORWARD UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN. THEN... WHEN YOU REACH THE CAPITAL, CROSS THE BARRIER. THAT'S THE MAGICAL SEAL TRAPPING US ALL UNDERGROUND. ANYTHING CAN ENTER THROUGH IT, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT... EXCEPT SOMEONE WITH A POWERFUL SOUL... LIKE YOU! THAT'S WHY THE KING WANT TO ACQUIRE A HUMAN. HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL US MONSTERS CAN RETURN TO THE SURFACE! OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU...TO REACH THE EXIT, YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS...THROUGH THE KING'S CASTLE. THE KING OF ALL MONSTERS...HE IS... WELL...HE'S A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER! EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY. I AM CERTAIN IF YOU JUST SAY... 'EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR..." that name sparks some kind of recognition in Chara, he feels like he has heard it before, "CAN I PLEASE GO HOME?' HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF! ANYWAY!THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING! FEEL FREE TO COME BY AND HAVE THAT DATE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" Frisk is smiling brightly at the skeleton but then she falls forward, dropping face first into the snow.

"Frisk!" Chara charges over but there is nothing he can do exactly,

"HUMAN!" the skeleton also rushes over, "ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" he rolls Frisk over, she is unconscious, her cheeks now bright red and her breathes are coming out short and quick, "OH NO! THIS IS NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD AT ALL," the skeleton scoops her up and hurries off with her, Chara has no choice but to follow.

...

Sans had dozed off on the sofa but was immediately awake when Papyrus slams the front door open and rushes in, "SANS I BROKE THE HUMAN!" Sans looks up to find his brother holding the kid in his arms,

"What happened?" he asks jumping to his feet,

"WE JUST FINISHED OUR AMAZING AND COOL FIGHT AND THEY JUST STOPPED WORKING!" Papyrus exclaims worriedly,

"Put them on the sofa so I can take a look," Sans suggests calmly, his brother places the kid down gently and Sans frowns, the kid looks really pale, except for the rosy red cheeks and their breathing is unsteady. He places a hand against their cheek and hisses out a concerned sigh, "they have a fever, Paps go get some blankets,"

"ARE THEY ALRIGHT?"

"Don't worry bro, they're just sick is all, we can help them get better," Sans watches his brother rush upstairs for the blankets before glancing back down at the kid, "sorry kiddo, should have kept a closer eye socket on you," he strokes their fringe off their face, his frown deepening as the kid whimpers. Papyrus comes back with too many blankets, Sans chooses to use three of them and covers the humans small shivering frame, he then rolls up the rest to act as a pillow, "hey Paps, why don't you make some of your special spaghetti for when they wake up, I bet they could do with a good meal,"

"EXCELLENT IDEA SANS! I SHALL GO PREPARE IT NOW!"

"Just no glitter bro, humans can't really have it,"

"HOW STRANGE BUT OKAY!" he hurries off to the kitchen and Sans carefully sits down by their head, they are still whimpering so he strokes their head gently and turns the TV on, soon enough their whimpers stop, but he continues to stroke their head as he watches one of Mettaton's shows.

Meanwhile Chara paces angrily and rants to no-one in particular since no-one but Frisk can actually hear him. He does not know if he is angrier at himself for not pushing Frisk to rest more, angrier at Frisk for not telling him how bad she felt or angrier at the skeleton sat stroking her head, "Who the hell does he think he is!" he growls now standing in front of the skeleton, "get your stupid hand off her you bag of bones!" it was no use though, Sans could not hear or see him. Angry beyond compare he moves to the side and stares down at Frisk, she was sleeping now, "stupid," he mutters, they had to get out of this place, he did not care if Sans had told Papyrus that they were going to help her, it was a ploy, Chara was sure, they would gain Frisk's trust and then stab her in the back, "there has to be a way I can get you out of here," he ponders out loud, "maybe? No I couldn't do that, could I?" he frowns, his thoughts on Frisk's soul, he knew she had determination, he knew she could go back from a save point if she died, placing a hand on the girls chest a growl of frustration rumbles through him, "she's asleep, I could do it, she would never know, I can tell her she died when she passed out, maybe convince her that the tall idiot left her to die in the snow," he shakes his head and pulls away, "no, I can't do that, it's wrong, right?" a loud crash from the kitchen has the lazy skeleton jumping lightly,

"You okay bro?" he calls,

"UM... YES?!" came the reply, Sans sighs and gets up heading to the kitchen. Unwittingly leaving Frisk alone with Chara who had made up his mind, he sat Frisk up a little and summoned her soul,

"How do I even do this, can I just grab it?" he wondered and reached for the glowing red heart, but before his fingers could even graze its glowing surface, the heart turned blue. Chara looks up to see Sans stood in the kitchen doorway, arm outstretched and left iris glowing blue, "hmm," he hums as the skeleton jerks his fist closer in a dragging motion, it surprises Chara as Frisk's body now engulfed in a blue aura flies towards to skeleton and lands in his arms,

"What the hell..." Sans mutters looking around the room,

"SANS?" Papyrus calls from behind him, Sans hurriedly guides Frisk's soul back into their body and walks over to the sofa, "IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT? THE HUMAN?!"

"Is fine bro," Sans promises as he places Frisk gently on the sofa again, "well that was just plain weird," he grumbles quietly, Chara glares at him,

"I'm not going to be able to do anything with him in the way," so he resulted in floating above the sofa and watching over Frisk as his annoyance at the skeletons, mainly one in particular, got worse and worse.

Frisk opens her eyes and is flooded with confusion. It took her a few minutes to realise that she was in the skeleton brothers' house, it took her even longer to realise he legs were draped across Papyrus and her head was resting on Sans lap. Chara appears floating above her, "So you're finally awake," he grumbles looking and sounding annoyed, "snuggling up to skeletons hmm," he narrows his eyes at her as her face flushes red fast, "you've been asleep for two days, TWO!" he pokes her on the nose, "do you have any idea what _I_ have had to deal with?!" Frisk could tell he was extremely fed up so she smiles apologetically, not wanting to speak in case she woke the brothers up, "humph, it doesn't matter how many cute little smiles you throw my way," Chara looks away with a slight blush, "that one tells _way_ too many puns and that one speaks to that flower when he thinks no one is listening," this makes Frisk frown, "oh yeah," Chara nods, "that flower seems to be real close to tall bones here, there's even a fan club," he rolls his eyes, "the flower actually convinced him _not_ to go to a Dr. Alphys for help," a groan silences Chara and both of them look to the source. Frisk finds Sans grinning down at her,

"Hey kiddo, finally awake I see," he places a bony hand on her forehead, "well your fever has gone done, you had us worried for a moment there,"

"Sorry..." Frisk croaks out quietly,

"It's not your fault kiddo, we should have noticed you were frozen to the _bone_ quicker, I'm not surprised you got sick with a _femur_ ," he chuckles, Frisk smiles in amusement and Chara growls while floating away, a groan from the other end of the sofa signals the other skeleton waking,

"SANS...PUNS AT THIS TIME REALLY!?"

"Aww come on Paps don't you find them _humerus_? Do they not tickle your _funny bone_?" Sans asks while his brother groans some more and Frisk lets out a small giggle,

"OH, HUMAN YOU'RE AWAKE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS MADE YOU SOME OF MY AMAZING SPAGHETTI...BUT IT'S COLD NOW...BUT FEAR NOT I SHALL MAKE SOME MORE, FRESH IS ALWAYS BEST!" with that he shot to his feet and hurried to the kitchen. Frisk would have tumbled to the floor, considering her legs had been on the tall skeleton, if it was not for Sans grabbing hold of her and pulling Frisk closer to him,

"Uh, sorry, my bro kinda rushes into things, especially when it comes to cooking," Sans chuckles lightly, a dusting of blue across his cheek bones, Frisk blushes slightly and gives him a small embarrassed smile. Sans helps her sit up on the sofa before wrapping the blankets back around her, "Your fever has gone down, but let's not take any chances yeah?" he winks at her,

"It's only a ploy to gain your trust Frisk," Chara huffs while dropping down onto the arm of the sofa, Frisk ignores his comment,

"Want to watch some TV?" Sans asks, Frisk nods since she was not sure exactly what to say to him, after all, _'it's not like he remembers the last run.'_ Sans turns the TV on to find a news report, both Sans and Frisk freeze as her face appears on the screen with the words, beware, human about, "Uh, hey don't worry about it kiddo," Sans smiles, but it looks kind of forced, "you're safe here I promise," he adds and Frisk can tell he means it genuinely,

"Thank you," she responds in a quiet whisper. Sans' smile widens and he turns the TV back off when Papyrus comes in with a plate full of spaghetti,

"HERE YOU ARE HUMAN!" he places the plate of food on her lap and she smile up at him gratefully. Papyrus watches avidly as she puts a forkful in her mouth, part of her expected it to be awful but she could not be more wrong, the taste was out of this world, "HOW IS IT? I DIDN'T PUT ANY GLITTER IN IT SO I CAN ONLY ASSUME IT'S NOT AT ITS BEST," he says nervously, Frisk gives him a bright smile and a thumbs up while putting another forkful in her mouth. Papyrus grins happily,

"Hey did you hear about that famous Italian chef?" Sans asks, Frisk tilts her head questioningly,

"NO?" Papyrus seems suspicious,

"He _pasta_ way,"

"SANS!" Papyrus groans, Frisk chokes a little on the pasta while trying not to laugh,

"What do you call a fake noodle? An im _pasta_ ," Frisk openly laughed now,

"UGH, I'M GOING TO BED, YOU SHOULD SLEEP ONCE YOU FINISH HUMAN!" Papyrus starts heading up the stairs, "YOU SHOULD GO TO BED TOO SANS,"

"Hmm think I'll stay here with the kiddo, I'm not sure I trust those stairs,"

"WHY?..."

"They're _up_ to something,"

"REALLY BROTHER?!" Papyrus just sighs and heads to his room. Once he was in his room Sans turns to her and continues to tell her some puns and jokes while grinning broadly, Frisk was almost crying with laughter by the end of it, it was even more entertaining when Chara started rolling around the floor in frustration, he did not seem to like Sans' puns but Frisk did. Stifling a yawn Sans takes the plate from her,

"Sleep kiddo, you look _bone_ tired, I'll be right back," he promises with a chuckle, Frisk snuggles down on the sofa,

"We need to leave, you're better now, and you've eaten, so when the bone head falls asleep let's leave okay?" Chara asks, Frisk shakes her head, she was not ready to leave the skeleton brothers house yet, "come on Frisky," Chara whines,

"I'm tired," Frisk mumbles, hoping Sans would not hear from the kitchen,

"Fine but tomorrow!" he insists, Frisk does not respond she simply closes her eyes. Shortly after she feels to sofa dip beside her and a bony hand pat her head as she falls gently back to sleep. A strange feeling blossoming within her, a feeling she had not felt in a long time. She felt safe.

 **A/N - I apologise for my TERRIBLE puns, I'm not good at them at all eek.**


	7. 6 - Moving Onward

**A/N - Sorry it's been a while since I updated last, I don't really have a good excuse except for a small dose of writer's block and becoming absorbed into the Undertale Au amino app... I'm pretty sure that sucked up my soul he he. Either way I'm getting back on with the story, so without further ado...**

Chapter 6 - A True Pacifist - Moving Onward

Much to the annoyance of Chara, Frisk did not leave the next day and she ignored his insistent pleas and demands. Frisk was enjoying her time with the skeleton brothers, she got to know them a lot more than last time and could not help but adore them even more. Most of her time was spent with Sans as he would happily laze around the house much to Papyrus' annoyance, but even the younger brother admitted that he did not want to leave Frisk alone in the house while she was still unwell. When she was 'suitably well' for his standards they had their 'date' Chara grumbled and complained through it all, Frisk found it highly amusing.

"HUMAN. IT'S CLEAR NOW. YOU'RE MADLY IN LOVE WITH ME!"

"Oh peeerrrlease! He can't honestly be seriously thinking, that right?" Chara growled rolling his eyes, Frisk just smiles,

"EVERYTHING YOU DO, EVERYTHING YOU SAY, IT'S ALL BEEN FOR MY SAKE. HUMAN, I WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY, TOO. IT'S TIME FOR ME TO EXPRESS MY FEELINGS..."

"He better not..." Chara mutters lowly, eyes narrowing,

"IT'S TIME THAT I TOLD YOU. I, PAPYRUS... I... UM... BOY, IS IT HOT IN HERE, OR IS IT JUST ME?" he pauses smiling nervously, Chara starts to laugh and Frisk finds it rather hard to ignore his bellows of laughter but somehow manages it, "OH SHOOT, HUMAN, I... I'M SORRY. I DON'T LIKE YOU THE WAY YOU LIKE ME. ROMANTICALLY I MEAN, I TRIED VERY HARD TO!" he glances away, "I THOUGH THAT BECAUSE YOU FLIRTED WITH ME... THAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU. THEN, ON THE DATE, FEELINGS WOULD BLOSSOM FORTH!" a dusting of red lights up his cheekbones, "I WOULD BE ABLE TO MATCH YOUR PASSION FOR ME! BUT ALAS... I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... HAVE FAILED." he looks so disappointed in himself that Frisk places a hand on his arm in comfort, "I FEEL JUST THE SAME AS BEFORE, AND INSTEAD, BY DATING YOU... I HAVE ONLY DRAWN YOU DEEPER..."

"Could he be any more innocent?" Chara chuckles,

"INTO YOUR INTENSE LOVE FOR ME!" Papyrus grips Frisk's shoulders and he looks into her warm amber eyes, " A DARK PRISON OF PASSION, WITH NO ESCAPE."

"I'm sorry what?" Chara cracks up again, Frisk wishes he would control his laughter,

"HOW COULD I HAVE DONE THIS TO MY DEAR FRIEND...? NO! WAIT! THAT'S WRONG!" his grip tightens ever so slightly and he gives her a little shake, "I CAN'T FAIL AT ANYTHING!" he now grins down at her, "HUMAN! I'LL HELP YOUR THROUGH THESE TRYING TIMES! I'LL KEEP BEING YOUR COOL FRIEND... AND ACT LIKE THIS ALL NEVER HAPPENED. AFTER ALL, YOU ARE VERY GREAT. IT WOULD BE TRAGIC TO LOSE YOUR FRIENDSHIP, SO PLEASE... DON'T CRY BECAUSE I WON'T KISS YOU."

"As if I'd let you get close to," Chara mutters finally having control over his laughter,

"BECAUSE, I DON'T EVEN HAVE LIPS."

"Did he just..." Chara stood dumb founded for a moment before snorting out another laugh, "I'm done, I'm out, let me know when we are leaving!" and he floats out of the room phasing through the wall,

"AND HEY, SOMEDAY, YOU'LL FIND SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME. WELL, NO. THAT'S NOT TRUE... BUT I'LL HELP YOU SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" he turns to leave the room but pauses to turn back, "OH, AND IF YOU EVER NEED TO REACH ME..." he hands Frisk a small slip of paper with numbers on it, "HERE'S MY PHONE NUMBER. YOU CAN CALL ME ANY TIME! PLATONICALLY. WELL, GOTTA GO! NYEH HEH HEH!" he dashes from the room quickly. Frisk spends a moment saving his number onto the phone Toriel gave her, a frown ghosts across her face and she tries to ring Toriel, but no one answers. We a little sigh she heads out of the room and in search of Chara, it was time to move onward.

"Are we finally leaving this damn house?" Chara asks as she comes up to him, Frisk responds with simply a nod but holds up a finger to indicate him to wait a moment before grabbing her satchel and hurrying to the kitchen,

"AH HUMAN! I'M LEAVING FOR MY TRAINING, SANS SHOULD BE ON DUTY..." he glances over her to see she has her bag, "YOU'RE LEAVING AREN'T YOU?" he looks sad when Frisk nods, "I KNEW YOU WOULD EVENTUALLY, PLEASE BE CAREFUL WON'T YOU, I DON'T WANT TO LOSE MY SPECIAL FRIEND!" he wraps Frisk in a tight hug then pulls a tub of spaghetti out of the fridge and hands it to her,

"Thank you," Frisk responds in her quiet voice, Papyrus grins having only heard her voice a few times over her stay. They both exit the house together and he then dashes off waving at her.

"He gave you spaghetti, didn't he?" Chara asks,

"Yup," Frisk grins, "let's go!" she skips down the steps of the porch and walks in the direction Papyrus had gone, Chara falling into step beside her. Frisk pulled the jacket tightly around herself, she would have to return it to Sans soon since once she was out of Snowdin she wouldn't need it.

As they entered the next district, they could both hear the bubbling sounds of the waterfalls and Frisk smiles, this was her favourite place in the underground, "The sound of rushing water fills you with determination," Chara chuckles, Frisk giggles along with him and hurries forward spotting Sans at his post, which surprisingly still had snow on, "we just got away from the bone brothers and now your rushing towards him again!" Chara moans. Frisk stops in front of Sans and waves a little while looking at his post,

"What? Haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?" he then grins at her, "fortunately, two jobs mean twice as many legally-required breaks." he tilts his head for a moment, "I'm going to Grillby's. Wanna come?" he asks,

"Say no, we have to continue or else you will never get out of here," Chara grumbles, Frisk ignores him and nods enthusiastically, Sans chuckles before shrugging and saying,

"Well, if you insist... I'll pry myself away from my work..." he walks out from behind his post and starts walking, "over here, I know a shortcut," he winks taking her hand. There is an odd shifting sensation, almost like she was dropping from a great height,

"Frisk!" Chara's panicked voice reached her ears but then he was gone, and Frisk found herself and Sans standing in the fire elemental owned bar, Chara was nowhere to be seen, this worries her a little but she's distracted by Sans,

"Fast shortcut, huh?" she nods and smiles at him, "Hey everyone!" he proceeds to greet everyone in the room while leading her over to the bar,

"Hey Sans, weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?" someone calls out,

"Nah, I haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour," he winks at Frisk, "you must be thinking of brunch," everyone in the room starts to laugh and he points to a stool, "here, get comfy." As Frisk sits onto the bar stool a sound ripples through the air, "whoops, watch where you sit down," Sans says while chuckling, "sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats," Frisk grins at him and shakes her head laughing a little.

...

He stares at the kid for a moment, _'cute'_ the thought crosses his mind quickly and he just as quickly tries to shove it away, _'I can't be thinking that, they are just a kid, and human, besides,'_ he glances over them, _'I don't even know how old they are exactly or even if they are a boy or girl, though I suppose the latter doesn't really matter, ack what am I thinking!'_ he gives his head a little shake as a blush heats his face lightly, "anyway, let's order," he catches Grillby's attention and the fire elemental comes walking over while cleaning a glass, he looks curiously at the kid who smiles up at him, before turning to Sans, "Whaddya want...?" Sans asks them, they ponder for a moment,

"Burger please?" they ask politely in their quiet voice, _'got to be a girl, right? With that delicate of a voice,'_

"Hey, that sounds pretty good," he grins and looks up, "Grillby, we'll have a double order of burg," Grillby nods and walks off into the kitchen. Frisk swings her legs slightly and watches as Sans pulls out a comb and combs his non-existent hair, making her giggle a little and Sans grin, "so, what do you think..." he pauses, "of my brother?"

"Cool," Frisk responds with a warm bright smile,

"Of course he's cool," Sans scratches at his non-existent nose to hide the fact he is once again blushing, _'she's a kid get yourself together,'_ "you'd be cool too if you wore that outfit every day," he chuckles making her laugh again, he had really begun to like her laugh and making her laugh, "he'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to. Oh well, at least he washes it, and by that, I mean he wears it in the shower," this made her giggle more, "here comes the grub," Grillby returns with their food and places it in front of them.

...

"Want some ketchup?" Sans asks while holding out the bottle, Frisk frowns a little remembering last time and the disaster that happened, ketchup all over her food,

"No thank you," she politely refuses and reaches for her burger,

"More for me," he winks then proceeds to drink the sauce out of the bottle, her eyes widen as she watches him then she giggles. After a few minutes of silence while she eats and he continues to drink the ketchup he continues to talk, "Anyway, cool or not, you have to agree Papyrus tries real hard. Like how he keeps trying to be part of the Royal Guard, one day, he went to the house of the head of the Royal Guard..." he chuckles lightly, Frisk listens attentively even if she has heard the story before, "and begged her to let him be in it. Of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight, but the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there. Seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training, it's, uh, still a work in progress," he shrugs with a grin and turns back to his own burger, which is still untouched, "Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something," Frisk suddenly felt like she was under a spot light, "have you ever heard of a talking flower?" he was still grinning but his tone was serious, Frisk once again wondered as she had the last run, _'is he asking about Flowey?'_ last time she had said no, this time she decided to be truthful,

"Yes," she responds focusing on the remains of her burger, she feels his gaze land on her,

"So, you know all about it," for some reason Frisk tenses up a little at his words, she wonders if he is maybe angry with her but then his next words just throw her off, "the echo flower." his grin widens a little when she looks up at him, "they're all over the marsh, say something to them, and they'll repeat it over and over... what about it? Well, Papyrus told me something interesting the other day... Sometimes, when no one else is about, a flower appears and whispers things to him." Frisk's eyes widen just the slightest, she remembers Chara telling her that he had seen the younger brother talking to Flowey, "flattery...advice...encouragement...predictions," his smile seems to falter ever so slightly but he recovers, "weird, huh?" he turns his head to look at her a little, she shrugs not really knowing if he wants an answer or not, "someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him," he says this but Frisk can tell he does not believe it, "keep an eye out, ok?" there is concern in his tone so Frisk nods, he sighs and grins brightly again "thanks," he then jumps off his seat, "welp, that was a long break, I can't believe I let ya pull me away from work for that long." he chuckles, Frisk turns on the stool smiling at him, "oh, by the way...I'm flat broke. Can you foot the bill? It's just 10000 G?" Frisk widens her eyes at him, _'is he serious?'_ he laughs at her expression, "just kidding, Grillby, put it on my tab," he starts walking towards the door before turning to look back at her, "by the way..." he rubs his non-existent nose hiding the small dusting of blue across his cheekbones, "I was going to say something, but I forgot," he then gives a small wave and hurries out. Frisk is left a little dumb founded before she jumps down, she notices Sans did not eat his burger. Turning to the fire elemental she says a quiet thank you before hurrying out and back into the snow of Snowdin, Sans is nowhere in sight.

"How does he do that...?" she ponders out loud, she then gasps and starts running back to Waterfall, hoping Chara will still be there, _'he's going to be so mad...'_ but she grins, _'I had fun with Sans though,'_ she continues to grin as a blush warms her face and she hurries along.


	8. 7 - Waterfall

She ran all the way back to Waterfall, out of breath she glanced around but could not see Chara, _'I hope he's ok...'_ she then spotted Sans back at his post, with a small shake of her head she approaches him. He gives her a grin as if knowing she is wondering just how he got here so fast, "Let's hang out again sometime," she smiles and nods,

"Oh," she quickly takes off his jacket and holds it out to him, "thank you for lending me your jacket,"

"No problem kiddo," he winks as he takes the jacket back and shrugs it on, "be careful up ahead now won't you," she nods and hurries off. _'I need to find where Chara went...'_ with a sigh she moves on forward. Remembering from the sheer chance coincidence she stumbled upon last time, she checks for the hidden room behind the waterfall and acquires the tutu. Once again, she wonders who it had belonged to,

"Probably one of the other children, maybe one of them was a dancer?" she twirls a little then frowns, missing Chara. Knowing he would have had some kind of comment to make. She trudges on feeling lonely, soon having to push through some tall grass only to find herself freezing upon hearing voices,

"H... HI, UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT..." it was Papyrus, _'he sounds nervous... wait... he's talking to Undyne!'_ she really wanted to see Undyne, but knew it was best to stay still for now, "UHHH... REGARDING THAT HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER..." Undyne seems to ask him something but it is too quiet to hear over the sound of rushing water, "HUH? DID I FIGHT THEM? Y-YES! OF COURSE, I DID! I FOUGHT THEM VALIANTLY!" he pauses, "WHAT? DID I CAPTURE THEM...? W...W... WELL ... NO. I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END... I FAILED." _'oh Paps...'_ she felt really bad, _'technically he did win, after all, I did pass out...'_ "WHAT... YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THE HUMAN SOUL YOURSELF! BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON'T H-HAVE TO DESTROY THEM! YOU SEE... " there is a very long pause, "I UNDERSTAND. I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN." he then walks away, Frisk's heart going out to him as she takes a step to continue but freezes once more as the grass rustles announcing her presence. The sound of Undyne's clanking armour moves towards her, Frisk closes her eyes and waits. Not soon enough, Undyne leaves and she lets out a breath before exiting the tall grass.

"Yo!" Monster Kid charges out of the grass causing Frisk to yelp in shock, _'I completely forgot he was gonna be in there,'_ "did you see the way she was staring at you? That... was AWESOME! I'm so jealous! What'd you do to get her attention? Ha, Ha, C'mon! Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!" he runs off but not before tripping and face planting the ground pretty hard, Frisk cringes but before she can move to help the little yellow monster he is up and running again, _'I'm not even going to contemplate how he was even able to get up with no arms...'_ as she moves forward she feels the rush of warmth from a save point, now she misses Chara even more,

"He would say something, hmm, maybe I can try," after a few moments of thinking, "A feeling of dread hangs over you... But you stay determined." she frowns, "Chara is much better at these." She continues on, having a flexing contest with Aaron and singing with Shyren, to which she spotted Sans selling tickets made of toilet paper. She also received a phone call from Papyrus asking about what she was wearing, she responded before she remembered why he was asking. In the end, she decided not worry as it meant neither of them would be lying. She crossed over to a platform and took a deep breath, knowing what would be next but then, she heard, breathing. She spun around hoping it would be Chara only to be disappointed, at first, she thought it was Monster Kid since he had, after all, kept popping out on her but this kid, although similar in appearance, was grey. It looked unnatural to Frisk,

"Have you ever thought about a world where everything is exactly the same..." their voice echoed as is speaking from a distance, it freaked Frisk out, "except you don't exist..." now she was even more freaked out, the kid stared at her with blank milky eyes, "Everything functions perfectly without you... Ha, ha..." the laugh sounded forced, "The thought terrifies me." The kid then turns around and stares off, Frisk takes a few hurried steps back before turning around all intents to just run. But then that spear slams down in front of her, a spear that should have hit her if not for her body seeming to freeze without her permission. This had happened before, during the fight with Papyrus. Not understanding it but being extremely thankful since although she could come back should she die from a save point, it still hurt. A lot. More spears come flying towards her and she feels her body nudged forwards, she starts running, dodging where she can and at other times not fighting against the mysterious pull. She dives for a patch of tall grass and waits as still as she can, lucky Undyne seems to have lost her instead finding monster kid, she lies back and stares at the ceiling, _'maybe doing this all again wasn't the best idea I've ever had...but I have to stay determined, I have to help everyone get out!'_ after Undyne left confused she listened to Monster kids excited ramble before he ran off again. With a small shake of her head she plodded on forward finding another mouse hole and cheese,

"Knowing the mouse might one day extract the cheese from the mystical crystal..." she sighs, "it fills you with determination... I miss Chara..." now with a bit of a sulk on she pushes forward only to frown, "was that door there last time?" she comes to a stop by a grey door. It stood out starkly against the midnight blue stone wall, "I'm sure it wasn't..." she reaches for the handle and hesitates, "they say curiosity killed the cat..." she pushes the door open, "but they always forget... satisfaction brought it back," she peeks inside to find a grey room and... _'a monster?'_ a figure stands at the end of the room, tall yet disfigured. She could not quite focus on it but they seemed to be wearing some kind of black coat though it also seems to have become one with its body. She steps fully inside, "Hello?" she calls out to the figure, but it either does not hear her or it is unaware of her presence. More curious she walks up to it, a lop-sided grin on its face, _'it looks kinda melted...'_ and cracks on its skull, _'wait skull? That's definitely a skull right, so are they a skeleton?'_ the figure suddenly looks at her and it looks like it tries to say something but it just fades out of existence. "Ok, I'm officially spooked..." she turns and runs from the room, closing the door with a slam, "What was that? A monster? A skeleton? Some kind of ghost or glitch in the universe?" okay now she knew she was being silly, "A glitch...really Frisk," with a shake of her head she moves away from the door, "like that's even possible," what she did not notice as she walked away though, was the door vanishing in a flicker of static.

Still thinking about the mysterious figure, she happens across Sans again, stood by his telescope. Now she could have just continued on since she knew what the conversation would entail, but she was feeling lonely with the absence of Chara and the sight of Sans grin as he spotted her warmed her soul. "Hey kiddo, I'm thinking about getting into the telescope business," he nods towards his telescope, "it's normally 50000 G to use this premium telescope... but," he grins wider with humour, "since I know you, you can use it for free. Howzabout it?" he winks, with a smile she has a look, but all she sees is red,

"Sans... it's all red...?" she turns to look at him and he cracks up, "what?" she tilts her head to the side and he just bends over slightly laughing, then it dawns on her, _'damn I fell for it again!'_ she touches a hand to her face pulling it back to find ink, "Sans!"

"He..Heh... sorry kiddo but that was too funny, come on," he takes her hand and pulls her over to the water, using the edge of his sleeve he dips it into the glowing water and wipes away the ink, _'he didn't do this last time...'_ she fights a small blush that rises to her face, "there all gone...uh.." he pauses looking at her, she raises a brow when he says nothing else and that dusting of blue appears on his cheekbones, _'could that be a blush? Papyrus did something similar...but it wasn't blue,'_ "well I'm sure you have places to go, people to see heh..." he rubs the back of his skull, Frisk nods and with a small wave moves on, _'could it have been a blush?'_ the idea ran around her head for a while as she traversed through the area. She soon pushed the thought from her mind and focused on where she was going, listening to the echo flowers as she went by,

"I can't run any longer...Somebody, anybody..." that one made her freeze, _'did I hear that one last time, it sounds like a girl...I wonder if,'_ she stopped the train of thought. It would not do any good thinking of those who fell before her. She continues on, "So? Don't you have any wishes to make?" she smiles, this conversation she remembers and finds endearing, "...hmm, just one, but...it's kind of stupid." moving onto the next one excitedly, "Don't say that! Come on, I promise I won't laugh." she was starting to think waterfall was her favourite area in the underground when Papyrus rang again. They had a brief conversation, one where he did most of the talking and then she kept going. A yawn escapes her and she knows she has to stop even for a little while. She moves over to a patch of grass and sits down, feeling exhaustion flow over her she decides to lie down and hope that she is not spotted by Undyne.

Sans stares down at the human and shakes his head, "Of all the places to take a nap, and she's shivering," with a sigh he crouches beside her removing her boots and soaking wet socks, wringing them out and then draping them across the boots to dry. He then places his jacket over her. He notes as she snuggles under it that the sleeve is definitely stained from that ink, "Paps is gonna question that... oh well," he sits down beside her, watching over her, "just doing what I promised...yeah... definitely _only_ because of the promise," he rubs his face with one hand, because he could not even bring himself to believe that lie.

She woke up, confused. Her boots and socks sat beside her and there was a faint scent of ketchup in the air, "was Sans here...nah not possible... right?" she shakes her head pulling on her socks and smiling at finding them dry. As she pulls on her boots she blushes, "wait...if it was Sans..." she shakes her head again, "no, get your head in the game. Keep going forward." With a deep sigh she moves on. She makes friends with what she believes to be some kind of octopus or onion with tentacles called Onionsan, she paused for a while to listen to the music of the statue, once she put an umbrella over it that is and then met up with Monster Kid as the "rain" started to get heavier and he walked beside her to stay dry. This made her think of Chara once again, _'I should have listened to him...'_ she soon had to say goodbye to Monster Kid again, after he gave her a boost up and she watched him fall flat on his face again. With a small cringe she moves on only to stop on the wooden platform she now finds herself on. She had a very brief moment to utter a small "oh no," then she was running, trying to avoid the glowing circles as spears shot up. She just ran and ran, with no idea if she was going the right way. The clanking of Undyne's heavy armour a constant reminder that should she stop she would be inviting death in. She kept up the pace, running fast across a large platform barley missing more spears until finally she was across and running down another narrow pathway. That regrettably ended up in a dead end, she spun on her heals hoping she could somehow back track quick enough but she then stumbles to a stop. There before her, stood Undyne in full armour and looking terrifying, Frisk could not even begin to beg for her life as Undyne lashed out. She was not hit though, instead the floor of the platform was. Wood splintered and broke apart. There was a moment of vertigo where she almost seemed to defy gravity. Then she was falling, falling into the darkness. Panic bubbling through her and she screamed out, "CHARA!" then everything went black.

 **A/N - I'm back to updating this story. It will be slow going most likely and I'm still writing my super chaos story as well, along with another story that isn't going up on here. I may be taking on too much but the ideas are in my head and if I don't get them out they will be forgotten and lost and I really don't want that! Any-hows hope you liked this chapter! Next part will be soon!**


	9. 8 - Spear of Justice

The darkness was fuzzy, she hears a voice, "It sounds like it came from over here... oh! You've fallen down, haven't you..." she wants to respond but cannot move, "Are you okay?" she wants to scream out that she was not okay, but when she thought about it, she felt no pain, she felt, nothing. "Here, get up... Chara, huh? That's a nice name. My name is..." everything became blinding and Frisk sat bolt upright, all her senses rushing back over her body,

"Chara!" she shouts out,

"Chill out you don't need to yell," he was there, sat right in front of her on the small patch of golden flowers, for a moment she thought she had reset to the beginning again but the sound of rushing water told her otherwise. She launches herself forward, tackling Chara with a tight hug, the ghostly boy hesitantly hugs back, "calm down it's okay,"

"Where were you!" Frisk cries into his shoulder, refusing to let go,

"Around...you left me remember..." he huffs, "Can you let go now?"

"I'm sorry...I should have listened to you," she starts to cry hard now,

"Aww come on Frisky don't cry," he frowns glancing away uncomfortable with her tears,

"I thought you were gone for good, I rushed back to waterfall but you weren't there..."

"Well I was around..." he was not about to mention he was following her most of the time and as he had, his hatred for that constantly smiling skeleton grew, "You called for my help and I came, didn't I?" Frisk looks up now, it had been a long drop and yet she hardly felt anything, just a little achy. Falling underground in the first place had hurt like hell,

"Wait, you saved me?"

"Yeah... I told you I can numb pain and my reflexes are much quicker than yours are, you just had to willingly let me in," he grins, it looks a little disturbing, "and you did, finally," Frisk finds this a little worrying but chooses to push it aside for now, simply happy to no longer be alone again. They get up and move on, not long after they fall into a fight with Mad Dummy, "You should just attack it, it's only a dummy,"

"No Chara, I don't want to hurt anyone," Frisk hisses as she tries to dodge its attacks,

"But what if you get hurt!"

"Then help me?" Frisk looks to Chara almost pleadingly, "but we don't hurt anyone,"

"Fine," Chara rolls his eyes before running right at Frisk, the girl lets out a small yelp as he possesses her, for a moment he has to fight against a dark impulse to ignore what Frisk said and just kill the dummy, 'whoa I feel nothing...' her thoughts fill his head and he snaps back, a smile spreading on Frisk's face in response to him, "told ya," he moves around flawlessly, making the dummies own attacks hit it, but it got more and more angry. Both Frisk and Chara were left stumped at what to do, until milky droplets fell down upon the dummy. Chara let Frisk have control again as the dummy storms off muttering something about acid rain.

"Napstablook!" Frisk grins as the ghost they had met back at the ruins floats down,

"Sorry, I interrupted you, didn't I? As soon as I came over, your friend immediately left..." he looks down,

"Did he seriously not see all the rockets and the dummies, the knife!" Chara hisses shaking his head in disbelief,

"Oh no, you guys looked like you were having fun, I just wanted to say hi," he said so forlornly, Frisk's soul moves back into her body and she smiles at Napstablook in an attempt to cheer him up, "Well... I'm going to head home now, oh, umm... feel free to 'come with' if you want... but no pressure... I understand if your busy," he starts to float away, Frisk glances at Chara as if asking for permission,

"Why not?" Chara gives her a small smile as she grins at him and he follows her as she rushes off. They find the ghost not too far away,

"It's fine... no worries... just thought I'd offer..." he then floats off again. Frisk smiles and sighs with relief as a save point flows over her,

"You feel a calming tranquillity. You're filled with determination," Chara says with a small smile and Frisk hugs him,

"You do it so much better than I could," she then lets go of him and heads to Napstablook's house, knocking politely and stepping inside.

"Oh... you really came... sorry, I... wasn't expecting that. It's not much but make yourself at home." Napstablook gives the briefest of smiles and sits back at his computer, Frisk looks around for a while, playing some of Napstablook's music which he would explain he made himself, Chara was finding himself warming up to the despondent ghost.

"You think anything is in his fridge?" Chara asks Frisk, she shrugs and moves towards the fridge to inspect,

"Oh... are you hungry... I can get you something to eat," Napstablook floats over to the fridge and opens it before turning around and holding out a plate to her with what looks like... "this is a ghost sandwich... do you want to try it...?"

"You totally should, it's completely impossible but you definitely have to try!" Chara insists, this was the most enthusiastic he had been so Frisk could not say no, so she reached out to take it but her hands went right through it, Chara howls with laughter, Frisk honestly did not find it all that amusing but she was happy he was having fun,

"Oh... never mind... after a great meal I like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage... it's a family tradition... do you want... to join me?"

"Sure, I'd love to," Frisk smiles,

"Okay... follow my lead," he floats over to the middle of the room and lies down, Frisk follows and soon so does Chara. All three of them lying on the floor. The music playing changes and Frisk feels quite sleepy, but she is determined to stay awake this time and it is definitely worth it. She cannot explain how or even why this happens, but everything becomes darker around them and soon stars and galaxies swirl about, she hears a gasp from Chara and knows he must be seeing this too.

...

Frisk dawdled reading signs once they continued on, they were full of interesting information, "What are you doing?"

"Reading the signs, they tell the history," Frisk tells him only to receive a rolling of the eyes, "here listen. Hurt, beaten and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans. Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell. Anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful soul can leave." Frisk looks at Chara,

"Right..." he seems uneasy, Frisk pulls him to the next sign and reads out,

"There is only one way to reverse this spell. If a huge power, equivalent to seven human souls, attacks the barrier... it will be destroyed." 'that's how I have to do it, I have to convince Asgore to let me use to the other souls...but then, no it wouldn't work, I'd have to give up my own soul too. am I willing to do that?' Frisk falls silent and thoughtful while Chara pushes her onward to keep going.

"What's got you frowning so hard?" Chara asks breaking her thoughts,

"Breaking the barrier,"

"It can't be done," Chara responds with a shake of his head,

"Only because it hasn't been tried,"

"If it was possible, don't you think it would have been done already? You're not the first human to fall Frisk,"

"No, but I will be the last," she says confidently, Chara just hums in response,

"Hoi, I'm Temmie!" both of them turn to the strange little monster,

"Did we take a wrong turn?" Chara asks, Frisk giggles and shakes her head,

"This is Temmie Village," Frisk tells him before running about looking around and Chara watches her. He smiles, her joy is addictive, but in the back of his mind are darker thoughts, thoughts he keeps pushing down, now was not the time for those thoughts, but later. He would let Frisk have her fun for now, after all it would only last so long.

...

They walked in silence, between having had another encounter with Undyne and listening to the echo flowers, Frisk could tell Chara wanted to ask her something, but the ghostly boy remained silent. She was about to ask him what was wrong when he stops and points at a sign, "What does this one say," his expression ever so slightly gives away he is trying to distract her, with a sigh she turns to the sign in question,

"Huh..."

"What is it?" Chara prods her shoulder,

"A prophecy I guess... The Angel... The one who has seen the surface. They will return and the underground will go empty," 'does it mean a human' she wonders, like herself? Or could it be a monster? But she knew not of any who had gone to the surface, none strong enough,

"I didn't know there was a prophecy..." an odd look crosses over Chara's face and he turns away deep in thought,

"Chara? What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing to worry your little head about," he forces a smile and ruffles her hair, Frisk frowns at the smile and grabs onto the hand that was in her hair, keeping hold of it she pulls him along. She knew they would be out of waterfall soon, well somewhat soon. Chara looks down at their joined hands as Frisk pulls him along, a small blush spreads over his face and he is thankful she is distracted and no one can see him. At least he did not think anyone but Frisk could see him, so why did it feel like he was always being watched? They started to cross a bridge when someone called out behind them. Both paused and watched Monster Kid run up to them,

"Yo, I know I'm not supposed to be here, but... I wanna ask you something," he stares at Frisk for a moment, a moment too long in Chara's estimation, "Man, I've never had to ask anyone this before... umm... yo... you're human, right?" Frisk smiles warmly and nods, "Haha. Man! I knew it!" Chara highly doubted that, "Well, I know it now, I mean... Undyne told me, um, 'stay away from that human' so, like, um... I guess that makes us enemies or something. But I kinda stink at that, haha. Yo, say something mean so I can hate you? Please?" Chara looks at Frisk wondering what she will do, he does not think she has a mean bone in her body but then the armless monster had said please, Frisk looks visibly upset and shakes her head in a clear no, "Yo, what? So, I have to do it? Here goes nothing... Yo, I... I hate your guts..."

"Wow, creative..." Chara mutters, Frisk squeezes his hand,

"Man, I... I'm such a turd. I'm... I'm gonna go home now," he backs away then runs off. Chara turns to walk away pulling on Frisk but she does not budge. A startled cry has Chara whipping his head back around, Frisk pulls out of his grasp and races forward. Monster Kid had fallen of the bridge,

"This is what he gets for running everywhere..." because yes, he had been watching all the times he had fallen flat on his face. His eyes move from where Frisk is helping the armless monster and onto another monster, "oh crap..." he starts running forward, "FRISK!" Undyne was stomping her way towards the girl, but Frisk ignores her and gets Monster Kid back onto the bridge, both of them peek over the edge, both visibly gulp at the sheer drop before looking back at one another. Monster Kid turns to face Undyne, putting on a brave face despite shaking slightly,

"Y...y..yo... dude... if... if y-you wanna hurt my friend... you're gonna have to go through me first." he starts to shake even more as Undyne just stares at them. Slowly, very slowly she turns around and walks away, Monster Kid lets out a long breath, "She's gone... Yo, you really saved my skin. Guess being enemies was just a nice thought, ha ha." Chara was not sure Frisk was capable of having an enemy, "We'll just have to be friends instead. Man, I should REALLY go home... I bet my parents are worried sick about me!" he takes a few steps before looking back with a big grin, "Later dude!"

Frisk watches him leave and waves a little, sadness curling in the pit of her stomach, she wonders how Toriel is doing, "You okay Frisky?" Chara nudges her, Frisk nods, "You thinking about your own parents?" he asks, Frisk looks at him, almost no emotion in her expression,

"I have none," she then turns and continues walking, Chara frowns and slowly follows with a shake of his head and asks himself. 'It can't be that easy can it?'

...

Frisk got more and more nervous as they ventured closer to the end of waterfall. She was dreading what was to come and already beginning to have flashbacks of the first time round. It took so long to get past Undyne that time and she was not sure she could go through it all again. She closes her eyes and lets the warmth of a save point flow over her, it does nothing to calm her now rapidly racing heart, "Frisk seriously, are you okay. You've been acting odd since the bridge..." Chara was concerned, she could see it clearly on his face, she wonders if she should ask for his help. After all he did have quicker reflexes than she did, but there was an odd glint in his eyes, they almost seemed to glow like wicked embers. She shakes her head,

"I'm fine," she keeps walking, ignoring the look of disbelief on her ghostly partners face. She pauses at a tunnel entrance, through here and a little further was hotland, with a gulp though she turns her gaze up, to a figure stood high above the entrance on a rocky outcropping,

"Oh... you have got to be kidding me..." Chara mutters following Frisk's gaze, "How did she get ahead of us?" Frisk does not respond, truth is she is unsure herself, 'did Undyne take the river man's boat? It was possible right?' Suddenly Undyne's bellowing voice rings out, deafening enough to challenge even Papyrus' loud voice.

"Seven. Seven human souls, and King Asgore will become a god. Six. That's how many we have collected thus far. Understand? Through your seventh and final soul, this world will be transformed. First, however, as is customary for those who make it this far... I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people. It all started, long ago..." suddenly Undyne throws off her helmet and her long crimson hair flies out wildly, her glowing eyes glaring down at Frisk, "No, you know what? SCREW IT! WHY SHOULD I TELL THAT STORY WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!? NGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU! You're standing in the way of everybody's hopes and dreams! Alphys's history books made me think humans were cool... ...with their giant robots and flowery swordswomen. BUT YOU?"

"Giant robots...?" Chara sounds confused but Frisk has no time to explain it to him,

"You're just a coward! Hiding behind that kid so you could run away from me again! And! And! ... and something's been bothering me, too. The whole time I was chasing after you... I felt something... Strange. The echoes of something warm, something... Something like "I miss being friends with you." BUT THAT'S RIDICULOUS! I WOULD NEVER GET CHUMMY WITH A COWARD LIKE YOU! You! You must have been mind-controlling me! Manipulating people to make them like you... What a Grade-A FREAK! Now enough! For everyone's hopes! For everyone's dreams! And for my own freaking dignity! I, UNDYNE, will knock you down!" she jumps down, Frisk is in a little shock, this was different than last time, Undyne had defiantly said something different, 'does she somehow subconsciously remember our friendship, didn't something similar happen with Papyrus?' She is pulled out of her thoughts as her soul wrenches itself out of her body and floats in front of her, rapidly turning green, frozen in place now she feels bile rush up her throat along with a good dose of panic. She fumbles to catch the spear thrown towards her, "As long as you're green you can't escape! Unless you learn to face danger head-on... you won't last a second against me!" She was not wrong, Frisk tried to block the attacks, but they just got quicker and Chara yelling at her to fight back was just distracting so when that spear slammed into her chest she was not exactly shocked. Tears prick at her eyes as she looks up at Undyne, who strangely has a look of guilt and remorse, as if she has done something she should not have, Chara was calling her name, he was clearly panicking but everything was turning red. Soon Frisk could only see red and a loud rushing noise in her ears and then...

"Frisk seriously, are you okay. You've been acting odd since the bridge..." Chara falters in his steps, "what just happened?" he stares wide eyed at Frisk, trying to wrap his mind around what just happened, Frisk looks at Chara, tears threatening to rise, she is a little shocked he remembers everything, no one but herself and Flowey ever remembered, although Sans would say the odd thing that made her think he knew far more than he let on. She takes a deep breath and calms herself a little while rubbing her chest, echoes of pain still ripple just below the surface, like an old scar.

"I died." she says quietly,

"But you're clearly still here... did you go back in time or..."

"I don't know how it works, just that every time I die, I reset to a save point," Frisk tries to explain, Chara nods, he knows of the save points that much she knows. After all he has been keeping an on-running commentary each time she feels a save flood through her, "come on, we have to keep trying," she shudders at the thought of possibly, most likely dying again, Chara stops her,

"Frisk, let me help?" there is a pleading undertone to his voice, "I don't wanna have to watch you die again..."startled she glances up at him, he looks upset, "there was nothing I could do to stop it... but if you let me help I can get you through this I promise," Frisk hugs him tightly, she did not even think how he would feel, she had not even contemplated he would even remember when she went into the fight knowing she would die, Chara hugs her back tightly, "come on Frisky... please let me help?"

"We don't harm her," Frisk whispers out,

"Frisk..."

"I mean it Chara," she looks up at Chara, "We don't hurt her. While my soul is green we have limited movement, frozen to the spot, we just have to block all her attacks, when my soul is red again we run,"

"I don't know..." Chara frowns,

"Trust me, this is the way," Frisk pleads, she does not want to die again but she absolutely refuses to cause pain to anyone else.

"Fine, for you and only you I will do this," he gives her a small smile before lightly kissing her forehead, "We will do this together partner," Frisk blushes as he possesses her and Chara chuckles with her voice.

The fight was hard and Frisk had to remind Chara to run, they were running past a large flashing sign that read 'hotland' when the phone rang, 'oh' Frisk thought, Chara answers it before thinking the notion through, Undyne's heavy clanking footsteps were close behind as Papyrus' voice booms into their ear, "HEY, WHAT'S UP. I WAS JUST THINKING... YOU, ME AND UNDYNE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT SOMETIME! I THINK YOU WOULD MAKE GREAT PALS! LET'S MEET UP AT HER HOUSE LATER!" Chara stares at the phone in shock, still running as fast as he can make Frisk's legs go,

"You have got to be kidding me?" he mumbles, 'Chara behind you!' Frisk yells into his mind, he spins around just as Undyne catches up and once again Frisk's soul is pulled out and turned green, he wonders just how long this could go on,

"You won't get away from me! Honestly, I'm doing you a favour... No human has EVER made it past ASGORE! Honestly, killing you now is an act of mercy...! So STOP being so damn resilient!" Chara keeps dodging and blocking attacks, he really wants to retaliate but knows Frisk will push him out, he was not strong enough yet. Yet, but all in due time. "What the hell are humans made out of!? Anyone else would be DEAD by now! Alphys told me humans were determined... I see now what she meant by that! But I'm determined too! Determined to end this RIGHT NOW!" and yet once again he ran, Undyne let out a sound of pure aggravation and pounding the ground as she ran after them, again and again they ran, "COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE PUNK! STOP RUNNING AWAY!" but Chara keeps running, even when he spots a sleeping Sans, especially when he spots Sans. He runs past and over a wooden bridge that sways slightly at his hurried steps, it was hard to breath in the hot air, he realises then they are now in hotland, Frisk wrenches back control and turns to see Undyne making her approach,

"Frisk?" Chara is confused as to why Frisk is just standing there and why she pulled back control,

"Armour... so... hot... but I can't... give up..." Undyne sways a little as she steps off the bridge, her eyes roll and she drops like a stone, slamming into the dusty ground inches from Frisk's feet,

"Now we get out of here yes?" Chara asks turning to Frisk, but Frisk is rapidly filling a cup with water from a water cooler, "where did that come from... what are you doing?!" Frisk gives Chara a look of slight exasperation before dumping the contents of said cup onto Undyne's face. The fish woman blinks her eyes open before moving to a crouched position. She stares at the human girl in utter confusion. Chara is just as confused, "Why?" he whispers out in a demand, after everything he just did so she would not get hurt. Then to his shock, Undyne gets to her feet, looks at Frisk one last time, shakes her head and walks away. Chara watches for a moment until Undyne is gone from view before turning to Frisk, out of everything he could ask, like why she did that, what the point of it was, if she was crazy. Instead he simply asks, "Just how many times have you done this...?" Frisk looks at him with her golden eyes, eyes that said they knew secrets,

"Just the once all the way..." she looks off thinking deeply, "but there was more I could do... so I came back."

A/N - Sorry it takes so long to make these chapters, this one is a little longer than the usual too. I have so many ideas for this story and so many plans on where it's going but there are a few things I have to go through first and set up. I hope you guys will like where I plan for this story to head: D


	10. 9 - Friendship is Important

**A/N - I've been following pretty close to the actual game play for the most part, but things are going to slowly start to become different as I now begin implementing more into the direction I'm going. Hope you guys will enjoy it and thanks for reading and the continued support!**

He looks down at his hands once again, he had lost count now how many times he had done this. But it had been so long since he had had physical hands and he was not even quite sure how it was possible, since most of the time it was hard enough to stay focused on the present and not the countless other timelines and universes out there. Usually he was lost among his and the many other versions of himself memories, but ever since she came into that room, the one room he could form himself somewhat in. Things were changing. He looks at the two young humans, although one was clearly a ghost. He was extremely curious about the two, the girl could reset and although it seems like most were unaware, he remembered. He had been watching the fight and seen the girl die, but then the world rippled around him and she was alive again. He was aware of the ability a determination soul gave one and although he had seen it through the eyes of a few of his alternate selves before, he had not experienced it himself. Not like this, not this strong. Sure, the flower had had this ability too, but it was never like this. The boy also interested him, no one else seemed to be able to see him, well they did not let on that they saw him. He was almost certain Nabstablook could. There was something oddly familiar about the ghostly boy, those crimson eyes, he had seen them before. A long time ago. But as he tries to focus on memories from his past, his specific past, his mind becomes fuzzy and everything blurs so he gives his head a shake and looks to the humans. When the girl reset back after dying he had also felt a rush of energy, he had become stronger 'and gained hands' he notes while once again looking at them. He raises them to his face and feels around, it feels less misshapen.

"Are you crazy!?" the ghostly boy shouts, he moves closer, they seem to be arguing,

"No, I'm not crazy!" the girl huffs and moves long bangs out of her golden eyes, "I told you, I've done this before, I know what I'm doing,"

"Then why do the same, let's just get you out of here and home!"

"I'm not going home," the girl folds her arms, "I'm going to break the barrier," she sounds determined, this statement sends shock rumbling through him, it was not possible to break the barrier, he had tried for many years, even experimented on the first couple of human souls they had gathered, but it simply was not possible,

"This again? The barrier can't be broken Frisk, and it shouldn't," the ghost boy scowls darkly,

"You're wrong, it will be broken and I will free everyone. They deserve to be free Chara, they are good..." Frisk insists. 'Chara...' he frowns and examines the crimson eyed boy, even the name rang bells in his mind but he just could not remember. Chara lets out a small groan,

"Fine, so you wanna try get the monsters out... that does not mean we have to go all the way back into Waterfall and talk to the crazy fish woman who just tried to kill you! Wait no, she did kill you!" Chara flings his arms into the air in aggravation,

"It's important to make friends," Frisk says simply and starts walking down the steps towards the river, Chara lets out a sigh and stomps after her muttering how Frisk must be losing her mind. He hesitantly follows them.

"Tra la la, I am the river man, or am I the river woman...?" he rolls his eyes upon hearing his old friend speak to the children,

"What..." Chara frowns at the river person,

"It doesn't matter. I love to ride in my boat. Would you care to join me?" it is impossible to see a face within the dark hood, but their head glances over the two humans and then to him, ' they can't see me... can they?' Frisk steps lightly onto the boat followed by Chara more hesitantly. He quickly also moves onto the boat before the river person takes up his pole and pushes away from the banking. "Where would you like to go? I can take you to Waterfall or Snowdin,"

"Waterfall please?" Frisk asks with a polite smile, Chara just rolls his eyes. River person nods their head and uses the pole to push the boat along,

"I heard, Asgore has a favourite food," the river person looks down at where Frisk and Chara sit side by side, Frisk smiles and nods before glancing at Chara then frowning. Chara had tensed up slightly at the mention of Asgore, 'interesting...' "I also heard that spiders have a favourite food," there is a deep chuckle, "it's spiders." he can't help but smile and chuckle himself as both humans shudder slightly, "Beware the man who speaks in hands," there is amusement in the voice and he feels eyes on him, looking at the river person he frowns, 'they must see me, that was definitely a dig at me,' "Beware of the man who comes from the other world," they were looking directly at him as he said those words, 'was that a warning to me? man from the other world... which one?' the River Person says no more and brings his boat to a stop, Frisk and Chara are whispering quietly to one another as they step off,

"Thank you," Frisk smiles at the River Person before jogging away, Chara running after her, he sighs and is about to follow,

"It's good... seeing, you Doctor," the River Person's rumbling voice chuckles, his eyes narrow and he slaps their arm, a little shocked when he actually makes contact, they just laugh a little deeper.

...

Papyrus tries not to sigh as he glances down at his older brother, older yet lazier brother, "I mean seriously bro, you sure putting the kid and Undyne in the same room is... wise?"

"BROTHER, I THINK THEY WILL MAKE PERFECT FRIENDS!" Papyrus shakes his head, eyeing the small red stain on Sans' sleeve, it did not look like ketchup so he was wondering what it was and how he exactly he was going to convince Sans to take the damn thing off so he could wash it,

"But this is Undyne Paps... I know you two became friends but... Undyne is out to capture the kid..." Sans is clearly concerned about the human, and Papyrus can honestly understand, he too is concerned, and worried. But Flowey had insisted that he should try get the human and Undyne together and to get them to be friends, he was adamant it was possible and that the human would be fine, and Flowey was his friend and would not lie to him he was sure of that, "Paps?" realising he had not responded for some time Papyrus stops and looks down at his brother,

"WORRY NOT BROTHER, I WILL WATCH OVER THE HUMAN, AS THEIR FIRST AND BEST FRIEND! I WILL LET NO HARM COME OF THEM!" Papyrus promises, Sans smiles, though it seems a little forced, Papyrus has noticed he does that a lot lately, smile, but not a true smile. Although, when the human stayed at the house he definitely had a genuine smile, and he kept rattling out those puns. They caused no end of frustration to Papyrus, but Sans seemed to enjoy making them and the human found them funny which clearly made Sans happier. Papyrus grins wide, he is determined that they will all become great friends, just as Flowey said, "IT'S IMPORTANT TO MAKE FRIENDS,"

"Okay bro, well I better head back to my post... just... watch over the kid okay?" there was a flash of frustrated concern on his brothers face but it was gone just as quick as it came, Papyrus wishes Sans would just talk to him more, 'it's clear he has more going on than he tells me,'

"THE HUMAN IS PERFECTLY SAFE WITH ME," he promises, Sans nods and walks off, Papyrus is sure the post he is supposed to be at now is the other way, with a shrug he continues the rest of his way to Undyne's, hoping Flowey is right, and hoping that this all goes okay.

...

Frisk ignores Chara's continuing rant, she could not understand why he would not just listen, she knew what she was doing and sure she understood this was new to him and he did not trust the monsters but she did, he trusted her right? 'Does he trust me?' she glances at him as they get closer to Undyne's house, 'then again, I know nothing about him other than his name and that he died down here, and I don't think he's one of the others, their souls are with Asgore' with a sigh she turns back to looking forward as Chara goes quiet and Papyrus is there waving,

"OHO! THE HUMAN ARRIVES! ARE YOU READY TO HANG OUT WITH UNDYNE? I HAVE A PLAN TO MAKE YOU TWO GREAT FRIENDS!" He's grinning brightly and Frisk grins back, Chara on the other hand is looking around,

"Hold up, is that Angry dummy?" the three of them were outside Undyne's now, "no wonder he's so angry..." he mutters,

"OKAY! STAND BEHIND ME! OH, PSST MAKE SURE TO GIVE HER THIS!" he holds up a bone neatly wrapped in gold paper and with a big red bow, "SHE LOVES THESE!" he then quickly knocks on the door, Chara stands beside Frisk nervous and seriously wondering if she is like suicidal or just likes pain,

"Hi Papyrus!" Undyne grins cheerfully, "Read for your extra-private, one-on-one training?"

"YOU BET I AM! AND I BROUGHT A FRIEND!" he takes a dramatic step to the side to reveal Frisk, who smiles a little shyly up at Undyne,

"Hi, I don't think we've..." Undyne's eyes narrow and a vein twitches on her temple, then through gritted teeth she continues, "Why don't. You two. Come in?" she steps aside and sweeps her arm back in a welcoming gesture, even while forcing a grin. They all enter the fish woman's house.

"HERE UNDYNE, MY FRIEND BROUGHT A GIFT FOR YOU, ON THEIR OWN!" Papyrus holds out the golden wrapped bone to her and Undyne takes it slowly,

"Uhhh... thanks. I'll, uh, put it with the others," she walks over to the kitchen and opens a drawer to drop it in, Chara had followed and Frisk watches with concern and wide eyes,

"Holy mother of cow... there's a whole load of them!" Chara exclaims,

"So, are we ready to start?" Undyne asks folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her gaze slightly on Frisk, Papyrus shifts from one foot to the other and glances to the side away from both Undyne and Frisk,

"WHOOPSY DOOPSY!" he chuckles almost nervously, "I JUST REMEMBERED! I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM! YOU TWO HAVE FUN!" and with that revelation he literally dives out the window, Chara stares dumbfounded then looks at Frisk,

"But he's a skeleton..." there is a long uncomfortable silence in the room then as Undyne stares at her broken window in shock. After a while she gives herself a little shake and zeros in on the girl,

"So why are YOU here? To rub you victory in my face?"

"Can't really call it a victory, all I did was run..." she mutters quietly, 'well Chara did anyhow,'

"To humiliate me even further? IS THAT IT!?" Undyne practically roars takings a step towards Frisk,

"No!" she responds quickly and with feeling, she would never do that, confusion floods Undyne's face,

"Then why are you here?" shock ripples over her features, "wait, I get it. You think I'm gonna be friends with you, huh? Right?" a look crosses her face, Frisk is not quite sure if it is a sneer or just disgust,

"I... I would like that, to be friends," she responds barely audible,

"Really?" Undyne starts laughing mockingly, "How delightful! I accept! Let's all frolic in the fields of friendship!... NOT! Why would I EVER be friends with YOU!? If you weren't my houseguest, I'd beat you up right now!"

"Guess a fish can have some manners," Chara comments now back at Frisk's side,

"You're the enemy of everyone's hopes and dreams! I WILL NEVER BE YOUR FRIEND!" she yells out the last part right in Frisk's face,

"Welp we tried let's go," Chara turns to the door,

"Now get out of my house!" Undyne glares down at Frisk with those yellow eyes and Frisk feels the sting of tears in the back of her eyes, 'got to keep it together,'

"DANG!" Papyrus has popped his head through the broken window, "WHAT A SHAME..." he glances down briefly, "I THOUGHT UNDYNE COULD BE FRIENDS WITH YOU," he looked upset but that quickly turns into a shifty grin, "BUT I GUESS... I OVERESTIMATED HER. SHE'S JUST NOT UP TO THE CHALLENGE." he then runs away, Frisk gulps watching Undyne and the emotions crossing the fish woman's face, shock, anger, pride.

"CHALLENGE!? What!? Papyrus! Wait a second...!" but he is already long gone, "Darn it!" she shakes her head, "He thinks I can't be friends with YOU!?" she starts to laugh, truly laugh, "What a joke! I could make friends with a wimpy loser like you any day! I'll show him," a look of pure determination enters those yellow eyes, "Listen up human."

"It's Frisk..." she responds quietly,

"We're not just going to be friends, we're going to be," Undyne places her hands on her cheeks and Frisk could swear her eyes even glitter with stars, "BESTIES," 'all that's needed is a squeal and it's a scene from some anime...' "I'll make you like me so much... You won't be able to think of anyone else! It's the PERFECT REVENGE!" she pauses thinking for a moment then claps her hands together, "Why don't you have a seat?" she stares at Frisk expectantly,

"You're kidding right?" Chara asks, Frisk moves over to the table and takes a seat, discreetly looking at Chara as the ghostly boy sits on the edge of the table like a rebel,

"I'll get you something to drink," after a small discussion on what to actually drink, and Frisk remembering what choice was best to go for, Undyne starts to make her tea. Frisk wonders while she waits just why Undyne has fizzy pop when she does not like it, something about rotting teeth, mind and fighting spirit. Her eyes drift over to the ridiculously large sword propped against the wall, 'clearly something out of an anime... hold up, Alphys likes pop...and anime,' Frisk glances at Undyne's back, 'and last time I tried to look in her room...' she had been curious and Undyne had stopped her, saying no nerds allowed in there, but then implying that some nerds could, 'does she like Alphys?' Frisk felt the unnecessary need to squeal but held it in, Chara was giving her funny looks, he could clearly see a sparkle of excitement in her golden eyes. Undyne places a cup of steaming tea on the table in front of Frisk, "Careful, it's hot," she sits down opposite and Frisk wonders how long an appropriate time is to wait for it to cool, "It's not THAT hot! Just drink it already!" Undyne suddenly snaps, Frisk quickly picks the cup up and takes a mouthful of the scalding hot liquid, and although her tongue is most definitely blistering, it tastes amazing and she cannot help but smile, "It's pretty good right? Nothing but the best for my ABSOLUTELY PRECIOUS FRIEND!" there is a short pause after that bellow, "Hey... You know... It's kind of strange you chose THAT tea," Undyne looks away her forced smile dropping lightly, 'well technically I only chose it because you don't have any hot chocolate left and you seem dead against the fizzy pop so...' of course Frisk cannot bring herself to actually speak those words out loud, after all she would seem crazy if she did. "Golden flower tea..." Frisk notices Chara freeze and stare at Undyne, "That's Asgore's favourite kind of," there is a natural smile on Undyne's face now and it completely transforms her, she looks a whole lot less threatening, Chara has completely tensed at the name of the monster king though and this worries Frisk a little, but the boy looks down at the ground with a deep frown and Frisk vows to ask him about this later, once they are alone, "Actually," Undyne looks at the table, examining the crack, from when she threw her spear at it, "now that I think about it... You kind of remind me of him," she chuckles and Frisk sips more tea, listening and keeping an eye on Chara out of the corner of her eye, he seems to be somewhat unstable, fading in and out, it takes all her control not to panic and keep a neutral expression on her face, "You're both TOTAL weenies!" Undyne laughs out loudly but then abruptly stops, "sort of," she shrugs, "Y'know, I was a pretty hot-headed kid. Once, to prove I was the strongest, I tried to fight Asgore. Emphasis on TRIED," she grins wide drawing a smile out of Frisk, "I couldn't land a single blow on him! and worse, the whole time, he refused to fight back! I was so humiliated... Afterwards, he apologised and said something goofy... " she makes her voice deeper, gruff and imitates Asgore, "Excuse me, do you want to know how to beat me?" Frisk giggles lightly, "I said yes, and from then on, he trained me. One day, during practice, I finally knocked him down." She shakes her head, "I felt... bad," she sighs but smiles soon after, "But he was beaming..." she laughs again, "I had never seen someone prouder to get their butt kicked. Anyway, long story short, he kept training me... And now I'm the head of the Royal Guard!" she laughs louder, "So I'm the one who gets to train dorks to fight!" she stops laughing, "Like, uh, Papyrus," another sigh escapes the fish woman, "But, um, to be honest... I don't know if... I can ever let Papyrus into the Royal Guard." Her eyes go wide and she looks Frisk dead in the face, "Don't tell him I said that! He's just... well... I mean, it's not that he's weak. He's actually pretty freaking tough!" and she actually seems shocked to admit that out loud, "It's just that... He's... He's too innocent and nice! I mean, look, he was SUPPOSED to capture you... And he ended up being FRIENDS with you instead," she looks exasperated now, "I could NEVER send him into battle! He'd get ripped into little smiling shreds. That's part of why... I started teaching him how to cook, you know? So, um, maybe he can do something else with his life," Undyne suddenly realises something, "Oh, sorry, I was talking for so long... You're out of tea, aren't you?" Frisk looks into the cup to find it empty, a small pang of sadness hits her. It had been good tea, "I'll get you some more," Undyne jumps to her feet and walks towards the kettle only to pause in her steps, "Wait a second. Papyrus... His cooking lesson... HE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE THAT RIGHT NOW! And if HE'S not here to have it... YOU'LL HAVE TO HAVE IT FOR HIM!"

Let us just say that after that, things escalated a little, well maybe a lot. Frisk finds herself outside Undyne's house where the fish woman is setting her on her feet. The house is on fire. Frisk momentarily reflects on how that had not changed from last time although she does wonder if there had been a way she could prevent the fire, sadly she had gotten a little too much into it, "Well, that was fun, huh?" Undyne asks with a nervous chuckle as they both stare at the destruction, Frisk feels bad for the damage, "Don't worry, I'll just crash on Papyrus' couch, hey, um could I borrow your phone? Do you have a phone?" Frisk quickly holds out her phone to her, "Thanks, oh, if you ever need my help, just ring Papyrus, I'll stick with him for a while so I'll be able to talk too!" she wonders a few steps away to make a call and after making sure she was fully distracted, Frisk turns to Chara with a worried gaze,

"Chara?" she whispers,

"I'm okay Frisk, just tired," that did not seem entirely true to Frisk but before she could press further Undyne calls to her,

"Hey punk! I'm heading to Snowdin, you wanna tag along for a while, I bet Papyrus has a sewing kit that we can fix that sweater of yours with?" Frisk was unsure how to answer, on one hand her jumper really was in need of fixing, but on the other hand, something was clearly wrong with Chara,

"Go, it's fine, I'm gonna find some place to rest up, I'll come find you later I promise," Chara says giving Frisk a little nudge towards Undyne, "go do the friend thing," Frisk hesitantly walks towards Undyne, worry for Chara twisting her stomach, 'Was this right to just split up again?' before she could change her mind and stay with the ghost boy Undyne had scooped her up and practically flung her over her wide shoulder and begun to run fast towards Snowdin. Chara's form soon vanished from sight, but for one moment, just before they turned a corner. Frisk was sure, no she was adamant she had seen another figure, something tall and draped in dark clothing, 'was that... the monster from the grey room...?' Frisk did not think she would ever find that out.

...

Sans stares at his younger brother and tries to swallow the lump of panic trying to rise through him, "So just to confirm, you LEFT the kid, ALONE with UNDYNE, who wants to CAPTURE her?" he was trying his best not to freak out, after all Papyrus clearly did not fully understand the problem here, he did not know Sans had promised to look out for the kid, he did not know that Sans was no longer looking out for the kid purely on that promise alone. He liked the kid and believes they do not deserve to be stuck down here with their life being threatened every few steps. They deserved to be able to go home, alive and soul intact,

"UNDYNE WON'T HURT THE HUMAN SANS," Papyrus shakes his head and waves one of his gloved hands, "THE HUMAN IS A HOUSE GUEST AND YOU KNOW HOW SHE IS A STICKLER FOR MANNERS,"

"I also know how short her patience is Paps!" Sans shouts, he quickly scolds himself for raising his voice at Papyrus, "sorry Paps, I guess I'm just worried..."

"IT'S ALRIGHT BROTHER, I ALREADY FORGIVE YOU... PLUS, I UNDERSTAND, I CARE ABOUT THE HUMAN TOO," Papyrus smiles and Sans sighs, "IF YOU LIKE, WHY DON'T WE GO AND CHECK ON THEM?"

"I'd like that bro yeah," he puts on his best face, his smile that is not exactly a true smile and they both exit the house only to freeze on the steps,

"Yo!" Undyne grins, over her shoulder the kid has been slung like a sack of potatoes,

"Undyne what did you do? Is the kid okay?" the amount of concern in his voice annoys him a little but he is coming to just accept it, Frisk pushes up and twists in Undyne's grip,

"I'm okay, just a little jostled," they say quietly with a small smile,

"SO... DID YOU TWO MAKE FRIENDS?" Papyrus asks hopeful, Undyne and the kid exchange glances before grinning,

"You bet! We are total BESTIES now!" Undyne laughs, "Though I have to admit things got a little out of hand and I, uh, need a place to crash for a while,"

"Why?" Sans asks as Papyrus shouts,

"YOU CAN STAY HERE! IT WILL BE LIKE A SLUMBER PARTY! ONLY WITH JUST THREE OF US!"

"Four," Undyne says plonking the kid onto unsteady feet, "the punk here should at least stay the night, you have a sewing kit? I was thinking we fix up this jumper of theirs," they all look at the kid now, who blushes and folds their arms across their chest. Sans notices there are far more holes in the jumper than from when he last saw, including a large one on their chest, now slightly hidden by their arms,

"YES! WE CAN PUT PATCHES ON IT!" Papyrus rushes inside followed quickly by Undyne, "WE CAN ADD FLOWERS AND BONES"

"What about spears?" Undyne asks,

"I DON'T KNOW IF I HAVE ANY PATCHES THAT ARE IN THE SHAPE OF SPEARS..." their voices fade off somewhere in the house, most likely Papyrus' room. Sans turns back to the kid,

"Come on kiddo, let's get you inside before you become an icicle," he nods towards the open door,

"Thank you," they respond quietly with a smile and step inside, Sans follows and is about to shut the door when he spots him, 'damn flower' Flowey grins at Sans before disappearing into the ground, with a shake of his head he quickly shuts the door and finds Papyrus and Undyne now back downstairs and holding a large box filled with all the scraps left from when they made Papyrus' battle armour.

"Okay punk, take it off!" Undyne demands of the kid,

"I thought you were one for manners Undyne?" Sans asks while dropping onto the sofa,

"Fine, please take it off," Undyne grins,

"HUMAN DO YOU LIKE RIBBONS?" Papyrus raises his head out of the box as the kid pulls of their jumper and frowns at it, Sans could only imagine if they were wondering the same as him, is it really worth the effort to save. They hand the jumper to Undyne then fold their arms again, seems the t-shirt they wore under also has a few holes, including one on the chest area, If Sans did not know any better, he would say the kid had been hit in the chest with something. Everyone's eyes were drawn to the multiple bruises covering their arms though,

"Are these my fault?" Undyne asks with a remorseful frown, Sans frowns, some of the bruises are fresh yes, but from what he can tell, considering he had read those books of his Dads, most of them were old,

"Um, no. Maybe a couple, I... bruise really easy and they take a while to fade," they say in a small voice and wrap their arms around them tighter, now everyone is a little uncomfortable, Sans shrugs out of his hoodie and drops it over their shoulders, making sure the hood flops over their head too,

"I'll go see if I have a spare shirt you can have, can't have you running around like that," he heads upstairs ignoring the looks of disbelief on his brother and Undyne's faces,

"Did he just take of his hoodie?" Undyne had never seen the eldest brother without it,

"I CAN'T BELIEVE HE DID THAT, IT'S FILTHY, IT'S STAINED AND NEEDS A WASH, IT'S JUST RUDE TO THROW IT ON YOU, WORRY NOT HUMAN, I WILL WASH IT AND FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO KEEP YOU WARM!"

"No... no, it's fine, I don't mind," the kid says quickly, raising their voice slightly to be heard, Sans smiles, a genuine real smile and covers his face as he ducks into his room. He rests his head against the door, the voices from downstairs becoming muffled,

"I didn't know a smiley trash bag could become so attached," Sans spins around fast, summoning a bone and sending it flying at the flower, Flowey simply dodges it,

"Weed," Sans glares at it, "I'm gonna give you one change to leaf before I get the weed killer,"

"Wow... you even do puns when annoyed," the little golden flower shakes his head, "I only came to check up on our mutual friend," it smiles widely and it is disturbing,

"Stay away from the kid," Sans warns,

"Oh, don't worry, I will. For now," he vanishes quickly with a cackling laugh as Sans throws another bone at him.

"One day, I will figure out a way to destroy that thing for good," he storms over to where Papyrus had placed a pile of folded clothing, well they had been folded until Sans had rummaged through them that morning for a specific set of shorts. Sure, all his shorts looked the same but they definitely were not the same. He grabs a clean shirt, one that he knows has shrunk then after one more look around the room he heads back down to the others.

...

Frisk examines her sweater; all the holes are now patched up with various shaped colourful pieces of fabric. Both Undyne and Papyrus had insisted they fix it all, apparently, they thought all the holes were their faults, from their battles. Frisk had to let them in the end, since technically they were truthfully, specially the big hole in the chest, 'how had I not noticed that before?' it's now hidden by a big flower shaped patch, what concerned her more was that the damage had followed over. Which she finds odd as it had not happened last time, 'maybe it's some kind of corruption? Although, a lot of things are different this time round,' "You ready kiddo?" Sans draws her out of her thoughts, he is stood by the door waiting, it was morning and Undyne and Papyrus are passed out cold. Frisk nods and glances back at the two sleeping friends, "Don't worry, they won't mind that you didn't say goodbye, Paps will probably ring you later," Sans opens the door and steps out into the snow, Frisk follows him,

"I don't like goodbyes, they seem so very... final," she still vividly remembers the call from beyond the barrier, "I just wanted to say, see you later, I guess," Sans smiles wider at her and nods before leading the way. She was still wearing the shirt he gave her last night, he had insisted she keep it, she was determined to make it up to him some way,

"So, you're gonna keep heading on..." Sans has his hands stuffed into his pockets,

"Yeah..." Frisk looks at her feet as she walks, honestly, she does not quite know what to say,

"You should go see Alphys, uh, she's the head scientist, well only scientist now... but yeah, you will find her in the lab in hotland,"

"I'll do that," Frisk smiles, she was planning to anyway. Sans pulls her to a stop some distance from where they can see the river person waiting on their boat,

"Listen..." he sighs, "just be careful kiddo okay?" the deep concern in his voice shocks her a little and brings about a blush,

"I will, and its Frisk," she grins, "you should try calling me that," she laughs then starts running towards the boat,

"I'll be seeing you soon Frisk!" Sans calls after her, she grins, spins so she is running backwards and waves before quickly turning back around and hurrying to the river person, who seems to have been watching them.

 **A/N - So this totally ended up being incredibly longer than I planned... but what the heck. Long chapter! XD Please be aware I won't be able to do as long all the time, but there wasn't an appropriate cutting off point. I'll try to update again soon!**


	11. 10 - Quiz Time

**A/N - Sorry it's been a while (again) since my last chapter. This chapter would have been out much sooner had I not decided to plan out the next like 5 chapters XD. So, I do apologise and hope you guys still enjoy what I have planned, over the next couple of weeks (should everything go to plan and life doesn't throw me a curve ball) I should have the first section of this story complete. You heard that right, first section, maybe you can roughly guess where I'm going with this :D. Welp I've said enough! Onto the story o/**

He watched the ghostly boy, curious and yet worried. They stood staring at the sign depicting the old prophecy, he was vividly aware that many monsters believed that the prophecy would one day come true and that it meant they would all be free. He on the other hand was of a more logical mind and believed prophecies were simply make believe, like fairy tales, there was no science behind them at all. If they were to escape this prison under the mountain, it would not be due to some 'angel' it would be either with the power of human souls or magic. Or possibly even both. He frowns as the boy mumbles incoherently and moves closer to try and hear the words he speaks, "Have your fun Frisk, but soon... Soon it will be my turn" a wide smile stretches over the boy's face and it looks almost demonic. Was this boy even human? Like ever? Again, he felt there was something familiar, yet it continued to elude him much to his increasing annoyance. The disturbing smile, those crimson eyes, that dark aura... Wait dark aura? He quickly shuffles back a few paces, that dark intense aura was not around the boy before, he was sure. It seemed almost alive, an entity unto itself. The boy starts to move on, walking deeper into Waterfall and towards Hotland. He would follow, something about this child was unnatural and he was determined to find out exactly what. But what would he do once he figured it out he simply did not have that specific answer as of yet.

...

Frisk looked around before facing the large building, she had briefly searched for Chara but could not find him which worried her but she needed to continue, plus it was probably best Chara was not here for facing... that person. Taking a deep breath, she makes her way closer to the lab. The door slides open with a satisfying whoosh and she takes a tentative step through the darkened entrance, walking further in she passes a large screen noticing herself, she shakes her head at the state of her hair, "If I had a brush..." her eyes glaze over the cluttered desk beside the screen, noting the sheer amount of noodle cups, suddenly the lights come on blinding her. Blinking rapidly, she turns to the sound of footsteps,

"Oh, my god. I didn't expect you to show up so soon!" the small yellow dinosaur gasps upon seeing her, "I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, it's all messy and..." Frisk stops herself from giggling as she watches her spin in a circle, "Um... H-h-hiya! I'm Doctor Alphys, I'm Asgore's Royal scientist!" she stutters out, Frisk smiles, "B-b-but, ahhhh, I'm not one of the 'bad guys'! Actually, since you stepped out of the ruins, I've, um... been 'observing' your journey through my console," Alphys points towards the screen blushing lightly, "Your fights... your friendships... Everything! I was originally going to stop you, but... watching someone on a screen really makes you root for them. S-so, ahhhh, now I want to help you! Using my knowledge, I can easily guide you through Hotland! I know a way right to Asgore's castle, no problem!" she pauses and twists her hands together nervously, "Well, actually, umm, there's just a tiny issue," she's very clearly embarrassed and Frisk takes a step forward wanting to comfort her or somehow encourage her, "a long time ago, I made a robot named Mettaton. Originally, I built him to be an entertainment robot. Uh, you know, like a robotic TV star or something. Anyway, recently I decided to make him more useful. You know, just some small practical adjustments. Like um," Alphys looks at Frisk nervously, "Anti... anti-human combat features?" Her voice went up a pitch at the end and she shifts from one foot to the other, "Of c-course, when I saw you coming, I immediately decided... I have to remove those features! Unfortunately, I may have made a teensy mistake while doing so. And, um..." Alphys seems to only get more nervous, "Now he's an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood? Ehehehehe... heh. But, ummm, hopefully we won't run into him!" As if to counteract her anxious words, a loud bang reverberates through the building, Alphys blinks and looks around, it is quickly followed by another louder crash, "Did you hear something?" Frisk's eyes widen as she looks at Alphys, how could she _not_ hear the noise? The banging continued, getting louder, again and again, getting closer, "Oh no..." Alphys utters out, there's one final crash as something comes flying through the wall, dust flies everywhere causing Frisk and Alphys to cough and blink quickly, with eyes streaming through irritation Frisk spots the box like figure,

"Ohhhh Yes!" A robotic voice proclaims loudly, "Welcome, beauties..." the dust settles revealing Mettaton in all his glory, standing in front of a Mettaton shaped hole in the wall. Once again, Frisk mentally notes it is probably best Chara is not here right now...

...

Sans arrives back home to find Papyrus and Undyne discussing tomatoes in the the kitchen, figuring he would just leave them to it he slumps onto the sofa and almost instantly dozes off. He is woken not long after as Undyne drops down on one side of him and Papyrus on his other whilst also having a plate of spaghetti placed on his lap. Sitting up, he begrudgingly decides to eat the pasta, since it seems Papyrus has used the same recipe he used for Frisk, he smiles slightly as he listens to Undyne and Papyrus talk about the kid whilst turning on the TV, that smile drops as soon as he realises it is one of Mettaton's shows, " _... TO TODAY'S QUIZ SHOW!_ "

"Hey, isn't that at Alphys' place..." Undyne frowns, Sans shrugs and puts a fork full of pasta in his mouth,

" _OH BOY! I CAN ALREADY TELL IT'S GONNA BE A GREAT SHOW! EVERYONE GIVE A BIG HAND FOR OUR WONDERFUL CONTESTANT!_ " there is some fake applause followed by a spotlight shining down on the 'contestant' along with streamers and confetti. He chokes on his mouthful realising it is Frisk, beside him, Undyne goes deathly still.

"WOWIE, THE HUMAN IS ON METTATONS SHOW!" Papyrus claps excitedly, Sans glances at his brother before looking to Undyne, her worried expression reflects his own.

" _NEVER PLAYED BEFORE, GORGEOUS? NO PROBLEM! IT'S SIMPLE! THERE'S ONLY ONE RULE. ANSWER CORRECTLY... OR YOU DIE!"_ Sans becomes instantly even more tense,

"Uhh... I'm sure the punk will be fine..." Undyne mumbles,

"HOW DID THE HUMAN EVEN GET A SPOT... I'VE BEEN SENDING REQUESTS FOR MONTHS." Papyrus seems oblivious to the worry of the other two. Undyne looks at him and shakes her head before looking at Sans again. Sans focus is on to TV where Frisk's soul has been dragged out, he notes that it seems even brighter than when he saw it during their fight with Papyrus,

" _LET'S START WITH AN EASY ONE!_ " Mettaton announces with cheer, " _What's the prize for answering correctly? Is it; A, Money, B, Mercy, C, a new car or D, more questions?_ "

"A NEW CAR!" Papyrus shouts out excitedly, Sans spots Alphys helping out by signalling with her hands the right answer, it does not help him relax though.

"D," Frisk's timid voice calls out,

" _RIGHT! SOUNDS LIKE YOU GET IT! THE QUIZ SHOW CONTINUES. HERE'S YOUR TERRIFIC PRIZE! What's the king's full name? Is it; A, Lord Fluffybuns, B, Fuzzy Pushover, C Asgore Dreemurr or D, Doctor Friendship?"_

"C" Frisk answers confidently,

 _"CORRECT! WHAT A TERRIFIC ANSWER!_ _ENOUGH ABOUT YOU. LET'S TALK ABOUT ME! What are robots made of?"_ soon to be scrap metal, Sans thought to himself. He watches as once again Alphys gives them the right answer and he holds his non-existent breath as Mettaton seems to pause, _"TOO EASY FOR YOU, HUH? HERE'S ANOTHER EASY ONE FOR YOU! Two trains, Train A, and Train B, simultaneously depart Station A and Station B. Station A, and Station B are 252.5 miles apart from each other. Train A is moving at 124.7mph towards Station B, and Train B is moving at 253.5mph towards Station A. If both trains departed at 10:00 AM and it is now 10:08, how much longer until both trains pass each other?"_

"It's D," Sans finds himself saying, instantly his brother and Undyne look at him, they both have disbelief on their faces. Disbelief that turns rapidly to shock when it turns out to be the correct answer,

"How did you..." Undyne seems very confused,

"It's just simple math," Sans shrugs,

"Yeah... simple..." she shakes her head and turns back to watch the show which is quickly continuing on, Mettaton firing out questions that seem pretty random and different each time,

 _"TIME TO BREAK OUT THE BIG GUNS! In the dating simulation video game "Mew Mew Kissy Cutie" what is Mew Mew's favorite food?"_

"Oh! Oh! I know this one!" Alphys suddenly exclaims excitedly, "It's snail ice cream! In the fourth chapter everyone goes to the beach! And she buys ice cream for all her friends, but it's snail flavour, and she's the only one who wants it! It's one of my favourite parts of the game. It's actually a very powerful message about friendship and..." Alphys pauses, a blush rapid flooding her face as she realises both Mettaton and Frisk are looking at her,

 _"ALPHYS, ALPHYS, ALPHYS. YOU AREN'T HELPING OUR CONTESTANT, ARE YOU? OOOOOOH! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME. I'LL ASK A QUESTION...YOU'LL BE SURE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO! Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?"_ A feeling of dread and worry fills Sans, will Frisk be able to answer this correctly? Undyne sits forward beside him, normally he would quip out a comment on this but he was too damn worried about the kid, _why did I make that promise? Hell, who am I still trying to kid..._

 _"Is it; A, Undyne, B, Asgore, C, the human or D, you don't know?"_ Frisk looks at Alphys for a moment then turns to Mettaton, a small smile on her face,

"Undyne?" she asks, Alphys instantly becomes even more red,

"What..." Undyne's eyes widen as she rushes to her feet, spaghetti falling to the floor,

 _"SEE, ALPHYS? I TOLD YOU IT WAS OBVIOUS."_

"W-what!" Undyne is blushing now,

"YOU SHOULD ASK HER ON A DATE UNDYNE, I BET THE HUMAN WOULD HELP!" Papyrus suggests excitedly, Sans however is still watching the show intently,

 _"EVEN THE HUMAN FIGURED IT OUT. YES, SHE SCRAWLS HER NAME IN THE MARGINS OF HER NOTES. SHE NAMES PROGRAMMING VARIABLES AFTER HER. SHE EVEN WRITES STORIES OF THEM TOGETHER..."_ Sans thinks it is probably a good idea that his brother has Undyne distracted right now, _"SHARING A DOMESTIC LIFE. PROBABILITY OF CRUSH: 101 PERCENT. MARGIN OF ERROR: ONE PERCENT."_ Mettaton spins around and laughs, _"WELL, WELL, WELL. WITH DR. ALPHYS HELPING YOU... THE SHOW HAS NO DRAMATIC TENSION!"_ Sans personally thinks it had its fair share of tension in his opinion, _"WE CAN'T GO ON LIKE THIS! BUT. BUT! THIS WAS JUST THE PILOT EPISODE! NEXT UP, MORE DRAMA! MORE ROMANCE! MORE BLOODSHED! UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS...!"_ Sans quickly switches the TV off and gets to his feet, taking his partially eaten spaghetti to the kitchen he then heads for the door,

"Goin' Grillby's Bro,"

"BUT SANS YOUR SPA..." he did not hear the rest as the door slammed shut behind him. He felt sick with worry for the kid and really did not like it one bit, something else was bugging him too, Frisk seemed rather calm during all that, and even if Alphys was giving them the answers, they answered pretty quick, maybe too quick,

"Well, well, look it's a grumpy trash bag, that smile of yours seems to be faltering," Sans spins and nails Flowey with a glare,

"What do you want weed?"

"What no annoying puns, man you really must be agitated, wouldn't happen to be the human would it," Flowey asks while laughing, Sans narrows his gaze at the golden flower,

"Tell me something _bud_ , has Frisk done all this before?" Sans asks earning a small scowl that quickly shifts into a smirk,

"Calling them by their name huh? Seems you've become awfully chummy,"

"Answer the question," Sans demands stalking towards Flowey,

"Where's the fun in that?" Flowey cackles before quickly vanishing underground as Sans sends a bone flying his way,

"Damn weed..." deciding to forget about going to Grillby's he uses a shortcut to get to Hotland and lets out a long-relieved sigh as Frisk steps out of the lab. They keep stopping, checking their phone then moving on only to stop again. Checking his own phone, he notes the amount of notifications informing him of status updates from Alphys. A chuckle rumbles out of him and he moves to follow the kid, keeping an eye on them as they travel through some of the puzzles. Soon though his brother calls requesting him to come home as it is late. He looks over to Frisk one last time as they speak calmly on the phone with Alphys, "they should be okay... Al will watch over them," he turns around and shortcuts back to Snowdin, "and she better keep doing so..." Because he would hate to have to give an old friend a _bad time_ if she did not.


	12. 11 - The Royal Scientist

She paused and looked to her phone again, chuckling and wondering just how many times Alphys would update their status as she fans her face with her free hand. It was much warmer in Hotland than the rest of the underground, "Well no duh," she mutters to herself. She pockets the phone and shrugs out of her sweater, tying it around her waist. Wiping sweat from her brow she pushes on, keeping an eye out for Chara and trying to not get herself killed.

Hours later she sits on a ledge looking out towards the core, a huge metal structure rising out of the lava lake. Alphys had been helping with the puzzles, she was awkward on the phone but Frisk knew the small scientist meant well. Leaning back on the palms of her hands she keeps her gaze on the core, going over in her mind everything she had done up till now, "I could totally do without Mettaton's ridiculous shows, though I was able to handle that jetpack better this time round, didn't crash it and even got to the substitute... I wonder what exactly the substitute is?" she had chosen to rest here after Alphys' last call, telling her about the core, "Geothermal energy into magical energy huh... I wonder who created such a thing, can't have been Alphys, considering she didn't seem to know exactly how it worked," she shakes her head and pushes to her feet, "maybe I can find out, someone must know something... but for now, best keep moving... even if it means more of Mettaton," with a small groan she pushes on. She finds the first elevator and travels up a level, upon exiting, the scent of food wafts towards her in the dry air and her stomach rumbles, "when did I eat last?" following the tantalising smell she comes across one of Sans outposts, she giggles realising it has snow on the roof, somehow.

"Hey buddy, what's up?" Sans grins wider upon noticing her and she moves closer, "Wanna buy a hot-dog? It's only 30 g," she quickly hands him the gold, "here's your 'dog," he lets out a small chuckle, "yeah 'dog. Apostrophe-dog, it's short for hot-dog," this sends Frisk into giggles and choking on her food. She spends sometime talking to Sans as he serves some monsters, he tells some food related puns and after they mess about by stacking hot-dogs on her head, sadly she cannot balance them too long and they all tumble to the ground, they get some funny looks but just burst out laughing,

"Well, I better keep going I guess," Frisk smiles a little sad to move on,

"Hey Frisk..." there is a small frown on Sans face but his signature grin quickly returns, "Al's helpin' ya right? With the puzzles and all that?" Frisk got the feeling he wanted to ask her something else, she nods to let him know Alphys is, "good, but be careful alright?"

"I will be Sans," she gives him a small wave and heads off wondering what he actually wanted to ask her, probably best not to dwell on it. She delved onward, through more puzzles, finding more items from fallen humans and managing to get through fights without hurting anyone. At one puzzle she became quite frustrated and decided on a whim to call Papyrus,

"WHAT? HOW'S THIS PUZZLE WORK? UMMM... WHOOPS, I THINK IT'S UNDYNE'S TURN TO TALK!"

"What! No, I HATE puzzles! Papyrus you do it!" they seem to be pushing the phone back and forth between them,

"WELL, ALPHYS MADE THE PUZZLE RIGHT, YOU SHOULD JUST CALL HER UP... AND SAY IN A HOT VOICE..." his voice drops down a few octaves, "ALPHYS... I NEED HELP WITH A..." there is a pause, "WINK," Frisk has to cover her mouth to smother the snort of laughter that bubbles out, "PUZZLE..."

"Oh my GOD! NO! Shut up!" Undyne yells, making Frisk find it even harder to muffle the laughter,

"FINE! GIVE ME HER NUMBER! I'LL DO THE HOT VOICE!"

"NO! THAT'S EVEN WORSE!" there seems to be some kind of struggle and the line goes dead, by now Frisk is bent over holding her stomach while laughing. The irritation from the puzzle now long gone.

She eventually continued on, after getting over her small giggle fit and finally figuring out the puzzle. Feeling accomplished she pressed on, "Hey! You! Stop!" a voice calls from behind her, turning she frowns seeing two royal guards hurrying towards her, how did they get through the puzzle so quick?

"We've, like, received an anonymous tip about a human wearing a striped shirt," Frisk glances from one to the other,

"They told us they were wandering around Hotland right now... I know, sounds scary, huh?" Frisk does not say anything, "Well, just stay chill. We'll bring you some place safe ok?" they start to guide her when one of them looks at her,

"Huh?"

"What is it, bro?"

"The shirt they're wearing?"

"...like, what about it?" they both look at her now and it takes everything in her not to roll her eyes, "Bro..."

"Are you thinkin..."

"What I'm thinkin?"

"Bummer. This is, like..."

"Mega embarrssing, we, like,"

"Actually, totally have to kill you and stuff..." Frisk could only imagine how Chara would react to this, she bet he would actually find this funny, whereas she really did not, with a sigh she prepares to fight them.

Somehow, somehow... she had got one of them to confess feelings for the other and not long after they had both left to go have some nice cream together, "Well that was... eventful... now I have to..." she lets out a long groan, "Mettaton's news show," with a sigh she trudges on, already pulling out her phone to be ready, "I wish Chara was here, but at the same time... I know he would probably be even more annoyed with Mettaton than me..." She pauses for a moment when the sudden feeling of being watched comes over her, she spins around, hoping it might be Chara, but no one is around. Frowning she rubs her eyes, for a moment, she saw what looked to be static, "I'm losing my mind..."

A while later Frisk walks towards the next elevator, tired mentally and physically. She wonders if she can find a safe place to take a nap, especially since, "Muffet... give me strength to keep going" she steps onto the elevator grumbling to herself, "I'm definitely going to need some sleep... between seeing things an..." the elevator judders hard, throwing Frisk to her knees, "ow... What the, ahh!" the elevator shudders and jerks again and the sound of static fills her ears. She curls up into a corner, closing her eyes and covering her ears, "make it stop, make it stop," she whispers as the shaking becomes worse. And as quickly as it began, it stops. Frisk half runs, half crawls out of the elevator and collapses onto the ground outside, "what the hell was that... where am … I?" she turns to see a monster she has never seen before, they were tall and although their face was hidden in shadow she could see a pair of twitching cat ears, "uh..." what disturbs her though, was they was grey like that strange Monsterkid look alike back in waterfall, and there were small glitches flickering around him, the monster looks at her then starts to speak, it sounds like a haunting echo,

"Alphys might work faster, but the old royal scientist, Doctor W.D. Gaster?" perking up at his words she slowly stands, "One day he vanished without a trace. They say he shattered across time and space. Ha ha..." they laugh nervously, "how can I say so without fear? I'm holding a piece of him right here." They hold out their hand to Frisk, who hesitantly holds out her own. They then place something small and grey in her hand, it pulses with a soft light, what freaks her out though is it has a face, before she can give it back, or rather throw it back like she really wanted to, it pulses brightly once and vanishes, along with the monster who had given it her. A sharp pain pierces her chest, she gasps and stumbles back into the elevator. Rubbing her chest, she frowns with worry, "what was that... who was that... and who is W. D. Gaster?" then to her horror, the elevator shudders, "not again..."

She was out of the elevator as soon as it stopped, "this is getting weird... uh..." another grey monster, this one also has glitches as it stares hard at her, "um... hi?"

"It makes sense why Asgore took so long to hire a new royal scientist. After all, the old one..." Frisk is mildly disturbed when the monster glitches more for a moment, "Doctor Gaster. What an act to follow! They say he created the CORE," finally she knew, the feeling of accomplishment only lasted shortly, "however... his life was cut short. One day, he fell into his creation, and... will Alphys end the same way?" the monster seems to flicker before it vanishes completely,

"So, the core was created by this Doctor Gaster," she hums, "who are these grey monsters?" with a sigh she looks around and realises she has no choice but to get back in the elevator, "alright... where are you going to take me this time?" surprisingly it takes her back to where she started, but things were different now, another grey monster seems to be waiting for her. With a gulp she moves slowly towards it,

"I understand why Asgore waited for long to hire a new royal scientist. The previous one... Doctor Gaster. His brilliance was irreplaceable. However, his life..."

…

He had followed the boy all throughout Waterfall and now Hotland. They had returned to the other human, not that they seem to have noticed, they were currently talking to a monster, a familiar monster, someone he had once worked with, and doomed to live forgotten due to one failed experiment, "His brilliance was irreplaceable." Well of course it is, no one is quite as genius, "However, his life... was cut short. One day, his experiments went wrong, and... well, I needn't gossip." A grin spread over their face and they look over the humans' head at me, "After all, it's rude to talk about someone who's listening."

Frisk whips around coming face to face with Chara, a scream of fright hurtling out of her, Chara ends up screaming too in shock, "What the hell Frisk!" he shouts blushing clearly embarrassed

"You scared the life out of me!" she yells back slapping his arm, he found it curious she could touch the ghost boy, "Where the hell have you been!"

"Aww, did you miss me Frisky?" Chara teases, earning a small blush from her. Looking at the boy, he had to note that the dark aura seems to have vanished, did he imagine it before? No, he was sure he saw and felt it quite vividly,

" **Well, well, well, look at you,** " hearing a deep distorted voice, he turns towards it,

"What are you doing here?" He demands narrowing his eyes at the black skeleton now stood beside him,

" **Now, now, is that any way to greet an old pal?** " they chuckle eyeing up the two humans, " **interesting glitch going on here,** "

"Leave them alone Error," he steps between the grinning skeleton and the two unknowing humans, they do not seem to see or hear him, Error laughs,

" **And look at you, walking about again. Still forgotten though,** "

"What do you want here Error?" he demands, "If you're here to try destroy..." Error holds up his hand,

" **I'm just observing, seeing how this glitch runs its course, besides,** " he shoves his hands into his pockets, " **I kinda made a truce so no destroying Au's... for now anyway. Well, I've got plenty other places to be and more interesting things to do that are way more fun, like tormenting abomination number 13,** " and with that he vanishes through one of his portals. A sigh of relief rumbles out of Gaster and he turns to the humans, only to find them gone,

"I blame you for this Error... they can't have gone far," he sets off, planning to find them, even though the boy did not have that aura anymore, he was still concerned, very concerned.


	13. 12 - Muffins and Musicals

He teased her, they argued, it was as if he was never gone. She had tried to find out where he had been but all she got was a shrug and he would then avoid it completely by changing topic, in the end Frisk gave up, "I'm really happy you're with me," she tells him,

"Uh... you are?" Chara blushes slightly before getting control over it, "Well I'm happy too, don't wanna be away from my Frisky too long," he ruffles her hair,

"Hey don't, my hair is enough of a mess," she pouts,

"It does kind of resemble a bird's nest... maybe if we listen we might hear the chirp of tiny birds," he teases, laughing when she starts slapping him playfully. Grinning he grabs her swinging hands and spins her around, pulling a giggle of joy from the girl,

"Stop! You're making me dizzy!" still giggling they both fall to the ground and lie there for a while catching their breath,

"So, what's next for you?" Chara asks turning his head to look at her, she turns those golden orbs his way,

"I wish it was sleep," she sighs, "but first I have to get past Muffet and then there's Mettaton again..."

"Wasn't Mettaton the guy tall bones was always watching on the TV?" Chara enquires,

"Yeah," Frisk giggles, "his name is Papyrus Chara..."

"Yeah I know, but I think tall bones is fitting," he grins and jumps to his feet, he holds out a hand to help Frisk up, "So a giant metal box and... what's Muffet?" Frisk takes his offered hand before answering,

"She, is a spider monster, remember the bake sale back in the ruins?" Chara nods at her as he pulls her up to her feet. Misjudging his strength, she falls against him. He has to quickly adjust his grip, wrapping one arm around her waist so she does not fall back down, he blushes rapidly at the closeness of their faces, even Frisk's cheeks redden and both of them seem to be holding their breath. Frisk moves first, placing her small hands on his shoulders and pushing slightly away, "um... well... t-they are related to Muffet..." Chara also takes a step back dropping his hands to his side and glancing away,

"Y-yeah? Um... well then it s-should be okay right?" he hates that his voice stutters,

"Well... sorta..." Frisk responds taking slow steps in the direction they were supposed to be heading,

"What do you mean, sorta?" Chara moves into step beside her,

"Communication between the Ruins and Hotland is slow... and she's a boss monster..."

"You have to fight her, don't you?" Chara frowns, "And let me guess, you still won't attack back, you can defend yourself y'know Frisk,"

"I won't hurt anyone," Frisk says with determination, "I refuse, the monsters are good Chara, they just want to be free,"

"Yeah, and that freedom comes at a price Frisk, your life," he folds his arms letting out a huff, "and I'm not about to let them take your soul and use it to break the damn barrier, I'm not letting any of them hurt yo...ahh... Frisk what are you doing?" she had practically tackled him with a hug, he sighs and hugs her back, "I'll help... and I won't hurt them I guess... just for you,"

"Thank you Chara!" she kisses him on the cheek and then hurriedly pulls him along, he floats behind her, face as red as a cherry, "if we do it quick we can take a rest at the MTT resort, I should have enough gold." Soon enough Frisk was walking into a hallway draped in cobwebs, she glances at Chara and nods, Chara takes this as his sign to possess her. Once done he keeps walking, high pitched laughter echoes through the hallway,

" _Ahuhuhuhu... Did you hear what they just said?"_ more laughter, he found it damn creepy, _"They said a human wearing a striped shirt will come through. I heard that they hate spiders. I heard that they love to stomp on them. I heard that they like to tear their legs off."_ well that would be entertaining, Chara thinks to himself and feels Frisk mentally scolding him, _"I heard... that they're awfully stingy with their money."_ Then he saw her, lilac skin, five black eyes slowly blinking at him and a small sadistic smile as they giggled, _"Ahuhuhuhu... You think your taste is too refined for our pastries, don't you, deary? Ahuhuhu... I disagree with that notion. I think your taste... Is exactly what this next batch needs!"_ Frisk's soul is dragged out, basking them and the spider woman in its brilliant crimson glow, Chara was ready for whatever this monster could throw their way, " _Don't look so blue, my deary... I think purple is a better look on you! Ahuhuhu,"_ in that instant, Frisk's soul flickered and changed to purple, and Chara felt restrained, almost as if bound, _'don't panic, see on the ground, see the purple strands of web, you can move to them to avoid attacks,'_ Frisk tells him, this was not going to be easy, but he supposed it could not be any worse than Undyne. And then the webs rose into the air and around him, he sent the giggling spider woman a glare, _"Why so pale? You should be proud. Proud that you're going to make a delicious cake, Ahuhuhu,"_ that laugh, he wishes he could just make it stop, if he could just wrap his hands around her damn neck, a good squeeze and... pain brought him out of his dark thoughts, damn,

"Why are you doing this? Can't you just let us go?" he snaps angrilly, that dark urge to kill her was still there, but somehow he managed to hide it from Frisk,

 _"Let you go? Don't be silly. Your SOUL is going to make every spider very happy. Oh, how rude of me! I almost forgot to introduce you to my pet, it's breakfast time, isn't it? Have fun, you two,"_ wait... pet. He heard gnashing teeth and barely glanced behind him before jumping up the webs,

"What in all that's holy is that thing!" Chara hisses out, _'Muffet's pet?'_ Frisk's response came, he was not impressed,

 _"The person who warned us about you... Offered us a LOT of money for your SOUL. They had such a sweet smile and... Ahuhuhu. It's strange, but I swore I saw them in the shadows... Changing shape...? Oh, it's lunch time, isn't it? And I forgot to feed my pet!"_

"Dear god no... I'll never eat another muffin again..." he mutters moving as fast as he can,

 _"With that money, the spider clans can finally be reunited. You haven't heard? Spiders have been trapped in the RUINS for generations! Even if they go under the door, Snowdin's fatal cold is impassable alone."_ Oh, the shame... _"But with the money from your SOUL, we'll be able to rent them a heated limo. And with all of the leftovers...? We could have a nice vacation, or even build a spider baseball field."_ Alright for some to have dreams, _"But enough of that... It's time for dinner, isn't it? Ahuhuhu,"_

"Frisk, I know I said I wouldn't..." _'No, Chara, no killing,'_ he suppresses the groan even as that dark hatred bubbles underneath the surface of his thoughts,

 _"You're still alive? Ahuhuhu. Oh, my pet. Looks like it's time for dessert,"_

"You know, this is why people should just choose chocolate..." he mumbles, cringing as that thing gets rather too close for comfort,

 _"Huh? A telegram from the spiders in the RUINS? What?"_ Muffet glances at them while calling off her pet, _"They're saying that they saw you, and... you helped donate to their cause! Oh my, this has all been a big misunderstanding, I thought you were someone that hated spiders,"_ Oh he was pretty sure he definately hated spiders, _"The person who asked for that SOUL...They must have meant a DIFFERENT human in a striped shirt,"_ yes because that was it, Chara could only look at the monster in disbelief, _"Sorry for all the trouble. Ahuhuhu, I'll make it up to you. You can come back here any time... And, for no charge at all...I'll wrap you up and let you play with my pet again! Ahuhuhuhuhuhu, just kidding, I'll SPARE you now, Ahuhuhuhu...That was fun! See you again, deary!"_ Chara could not move them out of there quick enough, he gives Frisk control back once far enough away to feel comfortable,

"I will never look at a muffin quite the same way again..." Chara scowls,

"What if it was chocolate muffin?" Frisk giggles,

"Don't tarnish my love of chocolate with that, that, whatever that thing was," he snips making Frisk giggle some more,

"It could have gone on longer," Frisk tells him as she walks over to a large poster advertising Mettaton's latest stage performance. A tale of two star-crossed lovers, kept apart by the tides of fate... Looking back to Chara,"if we hadn't bought that spider donut..."

"Have you even eaten that thing?" he asks walking closer and eyeing up the poster with intense dislike,

"No... hey maybe if we had used it during the fight it might have ended it sooner?" Frisk ponders,

"Now you tell me... I could have possibly avoided almost being eaten, by a damn cake!"

"Well it only just came to mind," she pouts a little, "sorry Chara," with a sigh Chara gives her a smile,

"It's okay Frisky, I can't be angry at you, so what's this?" he asks looking back at the poster,

"Our next main event," Frisk cringes,

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?" Chara asks, Frisk giggles as she continues walking,

"Is there anything, other than chocolate, that you actually do like?"

"Course there is! I like you and, and..." he pauses as Frisk looks at him, "I, uh... I don't mean it in a uh, romantic sense... like, uh, like a sister!" he mentally groans to himself, he cannot believe he just said that, even as Frisk grins and skips along, he rubs his face with his hands. "I'm a ghost after all... not as if..." he mumbles before shaking his head and hurrying after her.

They walk out of the corridor and straight onto a stage, Chara frowns at Frisk, then the lights dim down and a spot light turns on aimed at a prop balcony, " _OH? THAT HUMAN... COULD IT BE...? ... MY ONE TRUE LOVE?"_

"Seriously..." Chara scowls up at Mettaton as he moves from the balcony to the stairs, "he's wearing a dress..." Frisk suppresses a giggle as Mettaton makes his way down the steps in a shimmering white dress, very befitting of a princess, once on the stage in front of them music starts up, "Frisk..." Chara looks very confused, that is until Mettaton starts to sing,

" _Oh my love, Please run away, Monster King, forbids your stay. Humans must, Live far apart, even if, it breaks my heart. They'll put you, In the dungeon, it'll suck, and then you'll die a lot. Really sad, you're gonna die, Cry cry cry, so sad it's happening."_

"What kind of lyrics are they..." Chara shakes his head, clearly unimpressed,

" _SO SAD. SO SAD THAT YOU ARE GOING TO THE DUNGEON. WELL, TOODLES!"_ Before Frisk can react, even with knowing it was going to happen. The floor opens up beneath her feet and she drops with a yelp, Chara flies down after her automatically possessing her to limit any pain she may feel from the drop,

"What the hell..." he looks around, "Frisk..." _'Yeah I know...'_ he can hear her mentally sigh as they both look at the multicoloured pathway ahead of them.

 _"OH NO! WHATEVER SHALL I DO? MY LOVE HAS BEEN CAST AWAY INTO THE DUNGEON. A DUNGEON WITH A PUZZLE SO DASTARDLY, MY PARAMOUR WILL SURELY PERISH! O, HEAVENS HAVE MERCY! THE HORRIBLE COLORED TILE MAZE! EACH COLORED TILE HAS ITS OWN SADISTIC FUNCTION. FOR EXAMPLE, A GREEN TILE WILL SOUNDS A NOISE, AND THEN YOU MUST FIGHT A MONSTER. RED TILES WILL... ACTUALLY, WAIT A SECOND. DIDN'T WE SEE THIS PUZZLE ABOUT A HUNDRED ROOMS AGO? THAT'S RIGHT. YOU REMEMBER ALL THE RULES, DON'T YOU? GREAT... THEN I WON'T WASTE YOUR TIME REPEATING THEM! OH, AND YOU'D BETTER HURRY. BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T GET THROUGH IN 30 SECONDS... YOU'LL BE INCINERATED BY THESE JETS OF FIRE! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHA... HA... HA! MY POOR LOVE! I'M SO FILLED WITH GRIEF, I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING! GOOD LUCK, DARLING!"_

"What!" Chara shouts, _'Chara! Run!'_ with a short gasp he dashes into the puzzle, trying to remember what the skeleton had said back in Snowdin, which was actually pretty hard, "Crap... Frisk... I'm sorry," he closes his eyes and waits for the burning pain, he feels the heat, but...nothing, he opens his eyes to find the jets of fire paused on either side of them, "um..." it takes him a moment to realise a voice is coming from Frisk's phone and Mettaton is responding to it,

" _OH NO! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? FOILED AGAIN BY THE GREAT DOCTOR ALPHYS! ... THA-"_

"That's right! Come on, Mettaton, give up already! You'll never be able to defeat us... Not as long as we work together! Your puzzle's over... Now go home and leave us alone!" Alphys' voice says almost dramatically,

" _PUZZLE? OVER? ALPHYS, DARLING, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT...? DID YOU FORGET WHAT THE GREEN TILES DO? THEY MAKE A SOUND, THEN YOU HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER."_ Chara looks down at their feet and gulps, " _WELL, DARLING... THAT MONSTER... IS ME!"_ Frisk's soul pops out once more, _'Chara I can do this, you just fought Muffet,'_ Chara shakes his head, _'It will be okay I promise,'_ reluctantly he gives control back, " _THIS IS IT, DARLING! SAY GOODBYE!"_ Chara gives Frisk a worried glance but she looks determined,

"H-Hey! Th-this seems bad, but don't worry! Th-there's one last thing I installed on your phone...! You see that yellow button...? Go to this phone's [ACT] menu and press it!" Frisk looks at her phone bringing up the menu,

" _HA! THAT BUTTON WON'T SAVE YOU NOW, DARLING! YOU WOULDN'T DARE USE THE [ACT] COMMAND AND PRESS THAT BUTTON! THAT'S RIGHT! DON'T PRESS IT! I'LL DESTROY YOU! WITHOUT THAT BUTTON, YOU ARE INCHING CLOSER AND CLOSER TO YOUR DEMISE! ANY MINUTE NOW! ANY... MINUTE... NOW! ... THIS IS IT, DARLING! SAY GOODBYE!"_

"Now press it!" Frisk presses the button while Chara becomes increasingly confused, a small yellow laser bullet fires out of the phone and hits Mettaton, who then wails about dramatically,

" _OOOH! OOOOOOOH! YOU'VE DEFEATED ME! HOW CAN THIS BE, YOU WERE STRONGER THAN I THOUGHT, ETC. WHATEVER."_ He then zooms off, leaving them stood there,

"Well that was anticlimactic," Chara comments, Frisk nods then looks to the phone in her hand,

"L-looks like you beat him! Y-you did a really great job out there." Alphys says, Frisk smiles and Chara rolls his eyes,

"It's all thanks to you," Frisk tells Alphys, making Chara groan,

"What? Oh no, I mean... you were the one doing everything cool! I just wrote some silly programs for your phone... um, h-hey, this might sound strange, but... c-can I tell you something?" Alphys pauses, Frisk can sense her nervousness even through the phone, Chara stays silent and floats behind her while resting his folded arms on her head, "B-before I met you, I d-didn't really... I didn't really like myself very much, for a long time, I f-felt like a total screw up. L-like I couldn't do a-anything w-without..." up ahead Chara spots that darn flower and points it out to Frisk silently, she nods and starts walking forward, "W-without ending up letting everyone down. B-but...! Guiding you has made me feel... A lot better about myself. So... thanks for letting me help you... uhhh, anyway, we're almost to the CORE. It's just past the MTT resort. Come on!" the line goes dead and Frisk stops in front of the golden flower,

"Hey Flowey, I didn't expect you to _pop_ up," Frisk smiles, Flowey narrows his eyes at Frisk for a moment,

"You've spent too much time with that smiley trash-bag human..." he comments,

"Smiley trash-bag... oh my god that's perfect!" Chara grins laughing, Frisk does her best to ignore him,

"You don't like Sans' puns Flowey?" she asks,

"Not in particular... no..." he frowns again, "By the way... you shouldn't trust Alphys too much..."

"Why? She's only been nice to me," Frisk tilts her head wondering why he would say that,

"She isn't who you think she is, she's done things your little pea brain could never imagine," he growls,

"You shouldn't judge someone because of something they have done in the past Flowey," Frisk says pointedly, Flowey shakes his small head at her,

"The way you view things and the way you act... it will come back to bite you..." he gives her one last frown before vanishing into the dirt,

"So was that a warning or..." Chara asks setting his feet down and examining where Flowey had been,

"Friendly concern," Frisk tells him making Chara look dumbstruck,

"Uh... right... because that flower just screams friendship," he shakes his head,

"I don't think he's bad Chara, just, maybe he's had some bad experiences," Frisk shrugs walking onward past Chara,

"He tried to take your soul the first moment you met..."

"Well technically he's tried three times now..."

"Frisk!" Chara groans,

"Everyone deserves a chance to do the right thing, to be good, if they really try,"

"He's right... the way you think is seriously going to come back to bite you... you're such a pure optimist," Chara moans following beside the girl,

"I don't know about that," Frisk mumbles remembering just why she jumped into the hole leading to the underground, she frowns down at her booted feet only to glance up at Chara's disgruntled groan,

"Is there anywhere he doesn't show up?" Chara asks, Frisk smiles upon spotting the source of Chara's annoyance, Sans stands outside the MTT resort, leaning against the wall. Upon spotting her his grin widens and he waves, Frisk quickens her pace, "and of course... you just run off to him," Chara hurriedly catches up and places a hand on her shoulder, "I'm keeping a tight hold of you this time in case he pulls a stunt like last time."

"Hey, I heard you're going to the core. How about grabbing some dinner with me first?" Sans asks as Frisk comes to a stop in front of him. Much to Chara's irritation, Frisk nods happily.


	14. 13 - Dates and Determination

**A/N - Hey guys and gals and all those in-between! Yeah, it's been like waaaaaaaaaay over a year since I last updated this story. I apologise from the bottom of my heart for that. Between health problems and falling out of the fandom for a while I just couldn't wrap my head around the story. But! It's back! And hopefully you're still reading it. For new readers, WELCOME! I hope you're enjoying it.**

 **Will be trying for one chapter a week, as I'm also currently writing a story, I hope to be actually published one day. Anyways, I won't keep you, on with the story!**

He stood wondering what he should say once they turned up, it would be soon surely. It would not take that long to get through Hotland, although, they had been stopped constantly by that tin can, he sighs and rubs the back of his skull while leaning against the wall. "They will be here soon," he mumbles to himself, as if on cue, they appear, he finds himself grinning and waving as they come hurrying over, "Hey, I heard you're going to the core. How about grabbing some dinner with me first?" he is kind of worried they will say no, but to his relief they smile and nod,

"Yeah, I'd like that,"

"Great, thanks for treating me." He jokes and winks at them, grinning when they giggle, "Over here, I know a shortcut," he takes their hand and leads them around the corner and then, they are by a fancy table, a single candle gives off a soft light. Could this look more like a date... what if they think it is a date, what if they do not. Sans could not figure out which bothered him more, "well, here we are." He sits down opposite them pushing the thoughts aside, "So, your journey's almost over, huh? You must really wanna go home." He watches a flicker of sadness cross their face, "Hey, I know the feeling, buddo." He did not like how sad they looked now, "Though... maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you. Down here you've already got food, drink, friends... is what you have to do... really worth it?" he looks away so he does not catch the flicker of panic or the few tears that slip free only to be wiped away quickly before he turns back, "ah, forget it, I'm rootin' for ya kid," she gives him a sad smile as he glances away again. Trying to change the subject he turns back to her, "Hey, let me tell you a story. So, I'm a sentry in Snowdin forest, right? I sit out there and watch for humans. It's kind of boring, fortunately, deep in the forest..." he leans back in his seat and stares off, "there's this HUGE locked door, and it's perfect for practising knock, knock jokes. So, one day, I'm knocking 'em out, like usual. I knock on the door and say 'knock, knock' and suddenly, from the other side... I hear a woman's voice. 'Who is there?' So, naturally I respond: 'Dishes.' 'Dishes who?' 'Dishes a very bad joke," he winks at Frisk making her giggle lightly, "then she just howls with laughter, like it's the best joke she's heard in a hundred years. So, I keep 'em coming, and she keeps laughing. She's the best audience I've ever had, then, after a dozen of 'em, SHE knocks and says... 'knock, knock' I say, 'who's there?' 'Old lady,' 'old lady who?' 'Oh! I did not know you could yodel!' wow, needless to say, this woman was extremely good, we kept telling each other jokes for hours. Eventually, I had to leave," he grins a little, "Papyrus gets kind of cranky without his bedtime story, but she told me to come by again, and so I did, then I did again, and again. It's a thing now, telling bad jokes through the door. It rules..."

Frisk just smiles, she has heard this before, but she was starting to feel different than last time. Last time she found this quite sweet, this time, it made her feel off, almost, jealous? But that was not possible, how could she be jealous, and of what exactly. Chara still had a tight grip on her shoulder and had been grumbling about Sans throughout his story, oblivious to how Frisk's emotional state kept fluctuating. Then Sans continues and she meets his gaze again, "One day though, I noticed she wasn't laughing very much, I asked her what was up. Then she told me something strange. 'If a human ever comes through this door... could you please, please promise something? Watch over them, and protect them, will you not?' Now, I hate making promises and this woman, I don't even know her name. But... someone who sincerely likes bad jokes... has an integrity you can't say no to. Do you get what I'm saying? That promise I made to her... you know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything? Buddy..." She watches Sans glance away, an empty expression on his face, the white pinpricks usually present in his eye sockets vanish and she feels a deep sadness fill her at his next words, "You'd be dead where you stand..."

"Like hell bone bag," Chara mutters darkly, soon enough Sans turns back with a small sheepish smile,

"Hey, lighten up bucko! I'm just joking with you. Besides... haven't I done a great job protecting you? I mean, look at yourself, you haven't died a single time," he then winks and Frisk finds herself wondering once again if he knows more than he lets on, "That's right, isn't it?" he is watching her carefully and she tries to keep her thoughts from showing on her face, "Well, chalk it up to my great skills, heh," he rubs a hand over his face and Frisk finally notices how tired he looks, "well, that's all," he stands up, "take care of yourself, kid, 'cause someone really cares about you," he starts to walk away and Frisk feels a rush of panic. She still has not figured out what to do when she reaches Asgore, she wants to save everyone but how, she is not ready, not ready to face the upcoming battles and not ready to potentially give up her soul,

"Sans!" she calls out while jumping out of her seat.

Sans turns back to Frisk when she calls to him, what he does not expect to see is that they look, scared? He wonders if he scared her, "Kid?"

"I-I'm not ready..." she mutters quietly with watery eyes, relief flows through him and he holds out a hand to them, he did not want them to leave yet. They hurry over and rather than take his hand, they tackle him with a hug, shocked he almost stumbles back. He slowly wraps an arm around them, hoping his face is not as blue as he believes it might just be,

"How about we go back to mine? I bet Paps has some spaghetti... as long as him and Undyne haven't burnt the place down," he smiles when he hears the small chuckle come from them.

...

Frisk had been at the skeleton household for a few days now, she had not come up with a way to get everyone free. It was beginning to drive her insane and Chara had taken to not talking to her, he sat up on the roof and refused. She had no idea what was wrong with him and could not talk to him as it seemed every time she would go to, either Sans, Papyrus or Undyne would appear. Even now, as she sat on the steps outside hoping for a moment to coax him down, she hears a noise towards the back of the house. Being the curious girl, she goes to check it out finding Sans exiting a door she never knew about, his arms filled with... vines? "Sans?" Sans jumps a little,

"Oh, hey kid," he chuckles, "careful popping out like that, you sure made my bones rattle," he carries his armful to a growing pile at the back of the house,

"What are you doing?" she asks,

"Cleaning out the... ah... basement, plant problem," he shrugs,

"Want any help?" she says stepping closer, he gives her a thoughtful look, "You're allowed to say no if you don't Sans," she smiles turning to leave but his hand quickly grabs her arm lightly,

"Help would be appreciated," he answers tugging her towards the door, she smiles wide, "just watch your step, these vines are everywhere," stepping carefully down the stairs into a brightly lit room, Frisk is somewhat reminded of Alphys' lab, just devoid of noodle cups and more torn apart by vines,

"What happened?" she stares around the room in wonder and shock,

"Let's just say it's a pest problem," Sans shrugs and starts piling more vines he pulls up in the centre of the room. Frisk quickly follows suit,

"What's this... or should I ask what was this?" she comes to a stop next to a machine that looks like it's been half torn apart, a large sheet covers part of it,

"Oh... it was some kind of machine my... uh... father made," Sans comes over and pulls the sheet over to cover it fully, "never worked how he wanted it to," Frisk looks at Sans, he had never mentioned a father before,

"What did it do?"

"Who knows exactly," Sans quickly turns away and picks up the pile of vines with his magic, "it made him disappear," he mutters before taking the vines outside, she frowns at his back before moving to clean the surfaces, putting things away in the draws. She finds what she thinks are blueprints, though she can't read the handwriting or recognise the symbols,

"Maybe it's that machine," she shrugs before putting it away, she pauses finding a photo album, flicking through she finds pictures of Sans with..."they look like..." those grey monsters in Hotland, she closes the photo album with haste and as she is about to shove it back into the draw a piece of paper flutters out. She stares down at a poorly drawn picture of three smiling people, as it lands on the tiled floor. One is clearly Sans, no mistaking that smile, another she would guess to be Papyrus with that long red scarf and the third, crouching she picks it up, "the monster from that room..." she runs a finger over the smiling face, "cracks... is this, Sans father?" words were scrawled along the bottom, "don't forget..."

"Hey Frisk I think we are all done, wanna go to Grillby's with me?" Sans calls down the stairs,

"Yeah, I'm coming!" she calls up quickly putting the drawing in the drawer and hurrying up the stairs, she throws a smile on her face to hide her thoughts and follows Sans to Grillby's.

By the time they returned to the house she had forgotten all about the drawing due to Sans and his puns, now she sat and dozed off on the sofa, Sans had fallen asleep on the other side a while ago, Undyne was sprawled on the chair snoring and Papyrus had gone to bed a while ago, "Tomorrow," she mumbles sleepily to herself, "tomorrow I will plan what to do..." as she slowly slipped into slumber, she was unaware of the boy standing behind the sofa, eyes glistening dark red and a twisted smile stretching across their face.

...

The sound of her phone buzzing, the hard-rough floor and the hot humid air woke her. Sitting up she blinks confused and looks around, "How did I get to Hotland... I'm..." outside the MTT resort. Her phone buzzes again and upon answering she hears three loud voices shouting their concern and asking where she was, "I'm okay Papyrus..." she explained to Papyrus where she was before the phone was snatched away and she had to tell Undyne, then she had to explain again as Sans walked off with the phone,

"Need me to..." the phone gets cut off and loud static noise issues from it, confused she quickly tries to end the call to stop the static. But then something odd happens. Everything around her seems to glitch, surfaces and walls flickering in and out of existence, and the static becomes louder. Fear shudders through her as the glitching gets more erratic, she can feel panic rise within her and she cannot stop it,

"It's okay, don't be afraid. You're not alone," a deep male voice says quietly beside her, she cannot see who said it but she feels a hand on her shoulder. Normally this would probably make her panic more, but she felt strangely calmed, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath,

"Thank you," she whispers out quietly, as the sensation of a hand on her shoulder vanishes, she hears a quiet chuckle and then all is quiet. When she opens her eyes again, she sees two shadowed figures up ahead, they quickly rush away, then her phone rings making her jump and gasp,

"Frisk a-are you okay?" It was Alphys, Frisk ensured to the small scientist she was fine and quickly changed the topic onto the two figures she saw, "Huh? Who are they? N-nobody else is s-supposed to be here... Oh well! We can't worry about that now! S-so ready? This is it! Take the elevator up to the top of the Core!" Frisk looks over at the elevator, was she even ready for this? The answer was no, but she could not keep avoiding it, glancing around she wonders where Chara is, as she cannot sense him nearby. For some reason this disturbs her far more than it has previously done, an unsettling feeling rumbles through her.

...

Sans chugged down a second bottle of ketchup as the three of them sat at the bar. Grillby just stood silently observing them while cleaning a glass, Sans understood why he was watching them, why everyone was watching them. "They'll be ok right?" Undyne asks quietly, Papyrus looks to Sans,

"Sure, the kid survived you," he chuckles nervously, Grillby turns and switches the small television on in the corner of the room,

"OH, A METTATON SPECIAL," Papyrus grins, but that grin falls, the three of them stare at the television in horror,

"Did you know the toaster could do... that?" Sans asks Undyne as he stares at Mettaton's humanoid form,

"I know Al was working on something but this..."

"METTATON LOOKS SO COOL!" Papyrus comments, "OH AND HE'S DANCING WITH THE HUMAN!"

"Yeah... the punks got some moves..." Undyne shares a worried look with Sans, he chugs down another bottle, praying to whatever god might be out there that the kid will be okay.

...

She was out of breath, battered and bruised. All food items other than the pie had been consumed and she had somehow managed to pull through all that without dying once. She decided to help Alphys take Mettaton's body back to the lab. She hoped he would be alright despite him being a touch annoying, "S-so you're about to meet Asgore soon, h-huh?" Alphys chuckles nervously and Frisk nods in response, "You must be... Y-you must be ... pr... pretty excited about all that, huh? You'll f-f-finally ... you'll finally get to go home!" home, Frisk had never really called any place home, not truly, "um... I... I was just going to say goodbye... and..." Alphys paused as they got to the lab doors, Frisk gently lowering her side of Mettaton's body. After what seemed an internal struggle Alphys continues, "I can't take this anymore. I... I lied to you. A human SOUL isn't strong enough to cross the barrier alone. It takes at least a human soul... and a monster soul... if you want to go home, you'll have to take his soul. You'll have to kill Asgore. I'm sorry," and with that she hurriedly heads into her lab, the doors slamming shut behind her and Mettaton. Frisk sighs, a myriad of emotions running through her. Everything was the same as last time, how was she going to free everyone when everything was the same? Tears stung her eyes, she felt lost. She did not want it to go the same way again.

"Is it really that impossible to change things?" she mutters out into the silence, only the sounds of bubbling lava respond, turning back towards the MTT resort she shakes her head, "no... not yet..." another emotion filled sigh rumbles out of her and she looks away, moving towards the steps down to the River persons boat while quickly wiping the tears away. A gentle grip on her arm stops her though and she turns to find Sans,

"Hey kiddo," he gives her his signature grin but it seems a little strained, he holds up a paper bag, "present from Grilbz, we uh, figured you could use it," he hands her the bag to which she opens it and smiles upon finding fries,

"Thank you,"

"No problem kiddo, you look bone tired," he says pulling her over to the steps and sitting them both down, "saw you on TV," he notes as she starts eating, "You got some moves," he chuckles as she blushes slightly, "and a lot of determination..." they are quiet for a while as she finishes her fries, "listen... if you want to go to the capitol now, I can take you. If you want?" he asks looking at his hands,

"Thank you, but... I'm not ready yet, I... don't want to leave..." she mumbles whilst looking at her feet. A hand comes into her view and she looks up at Sans,

"You're welcome to stay with us, as long as you want," his cheekbones are dusted with blue, Frisk smiles and takes his hand letting him pull her back to her feet,

"Really?"

"Of course, mind, it's a little crowded, like sardines in a can," he chuckles, "if it's too much we will sort out a room for you at the inn," Frisk watches as he relaxes and realises, he must have been really tensed, she wonders why, and if it was possible it was because he was worried about her. That thought made her blush a little darker, and to hide it she hugs him. She never expected him to hug her back though, "come on, let's head back, I know a short cut," at those words she grins up at him. Everything around them blurs to black and the floor drops out below their feet. Moments later their feet touch icy ground, and slip, "woah!" Sans yelps as a squeak escapes Frisk and they both land in a pile of snow. "Ice swear I'm usually good on the landings, I've snow idea how that happened," Frisk starts to giggle then soon she is laughing. He grins at her before helping them both to their feet and together they head to the house.

She was shaken awake at some point early in the morning, it took her a moment to realise where she was, which was in Papyrus' bed, how did I get here, she wonders. Two eager faces loom over her and she shrinks back under the covers, "THE HUMAN IS AWAKE!"

"Well if they weren't before, they sure are now bro," Sans sleepy voice comes from somewhere near the door, slowly sitting up she smiles at Papyrus then turns to the impatient and yet slightly nervous Undyne,

"Um, so, I have a favour to ask you. Uuuuh, I... I need you to deliver this letter to Doctor Alphys," Frisk raises an eyebrow at her, wondering why she could not just do it herself, "Huh!? Why don't I do it myself...?... um, w-well..." Undyne blushes and looks flustered and Frisk lets out a small giggle, "I-it's kind of personal, but we're friends... so... I'll tell you," she pauses and pulls a face, "Hotland SUUUUCKS! I don't wanna have to go over there!" Frisk could understand why Undyne would not want to, it could not be good for her, "So here you go," she is handed a letter, "Oh, and if you read it... I'll KILL you," she glares down at Frisk hard before changing to a big grin, "thanks so much! you're the best!"

And so, Frisk found herself back in Hotland, outside the lab. 'Should I knock on and hand her the letter or...' she felt that would be awkward so decided to slip the letter under the door and turns to leave when she hears Alphys from the other side, her curious nature perking up, "O-oh n-no, is that another letter...?" 'I shouldn't... I really shouldn't... but... I want to know what Undyne wrote... wait... she said another letter, how many letters has she sent?' "I don't want to open it... c-can't I just slide it back out...?" there's a long pause and Frisk almost steps away, "N... no... I can't keep doing this. I'll read this one," Frisk leans closer to the door to listen in hopes of hearing better, "um... I-it's shut k-kind of strongly isn't it? Wait a second..." the door opens suddenly and Frisk stumbles back in shock, "Hey, if this is a joke it's..." Alphys looks up, her eyes widen upon seeing Frisk, "OH My God? Did YOU write this letter?" Frisk opens her mouth to tell the small doctor no but, "It wasn't signed, so, I had no idea who could have..." 'Oh my god... seriously UNDYNE! How can you forget to sign the letter?' "Oh my god. Oh no. That's adorable..." Alphys blushes, Frisk finds herself at a loss for words, "And I h-had no idea you, um, wrote that way! It's surprising too... After all the gross stuff I did... I don't really deserve to be forgiven," Frisk frowns, she does not believe Alphys has done anything remotely wrong, though she can just imagine what Chara would think, "Much less, um... this? And so passionately too..." Frisk glances at the letter, 'Just what did Undyne write...' "You know what, okay! I'll do it! It's the least I can do to make it up to you! Y-yeah! Let's go on a date!" Frisk's eyes widen, 'hold up, what!' before she can voice her thoughts Alphys hurries away soon coming back looking adorable in a black dress with white polka-dots, "H-how do I look? My friend helped me pick out this dress. She's got a great sense of... um, anyway! Let's do this thing!" Frisk smiles, "H-h-hey, w-w-wait! Actually, we still can't start the date yet! Umm, I've gotta give you items to raise your affection statistic first!" Frisk tilts her head to the side, 'like a dating sim?' "That'll increase the chance of a successful outcome to the date!" Frisk smiles amused slightly, 'she's such an adorable nerd, or should I say adorkable' she withholds her giggle at the thought, Sans must be rubbing off on her. "Right...? Anyway, d-don't worry! I'm prepared! I-I've been stockpiling gifts in anticipation for a date like this! F-first, I've got... some metal armor polish!" they both look at one another, "Um, maybe you can't use that. But! I also brought some waterproof cream for your scales! Your, uh... scales..." again they look at one another, Alphys shifts slightly but Frisk gives her an encouraging smile, 'she couldn't be more obvious about how much she likes Undyne,' "Um, well, how about... this magical spear repair kit, that I... um... Hey, let's forget about the items! Let's just start the date! Yeah! Let's, uh, date!" the silence that follows is rather awkward, Frisk really wishes she could tell Alphys the truth about the letter but now it has gone this far, "uh... do you... like... anime?" Alphys peeks up at her,

"Yes," Frisk smiles, she loved anime, at least from what she had been able to watch she did, Alphys lights up,

"H-hey! Me too!" but then she gets nervous and silent again before having a thought, "Hey! Let's go somewhere! But where's a good place to go on a date?" she taps her chin thoughtfully, "I've got it! Let's go to the garbage dump!" Alphys grabs Frisk's hand and starts pulling her along and before she can register just where exactly Alphys had suggested, they arrived, "Here we are!" Alphys smiles, "This is where Undyne and I come all the time... we find all sorts of great stuff here. Heh, she's really..." she starts to get flustered, "Uh... oh no, That's her over there." Frisk looks over in the direction Alphys is looking, and true to what the little dinosaur woman said, there was Undyne, "I c-can't let her see me on a date with you!" Frisk raises a brow turning back to her, "Why...? Because, uh... well. Oh no, here she comes!" she dashes behind a trashcan,

"Hey! There you are!" Frisk jumps slightly as Undyne storms over to her, "I uh, realised if you deliver that thing... it might be a bad idea." Frisk gives the fish woman and blank look, 'you think... maybe because you didn't sign it?' "So, I'm gonna do it! Give it to me!" Frisk holds out her empty hands to indicate she no longer had it, "Huh!? You don't have it!? NGGGAAAHHH! Have you at least seen her!?"

"Yeah," Frisk nods while glancing over by the very persons hiding spot,

"Yes? So, she's somewhere around here... Thanks. I'll keep looking," she walks off before Frisk can say another word, she shakes her head as Alphys pops back out,

"Oh my god... W... well, I guess it's obvious, huh? I... uh... I really like her. I mean, more than I like other people!" she pauses and smiles sadly, "I'm sorry, I j-just figured, y-you know... it'd be f-fun to go on like, a cute, kind off... pretend date with you? T-to make you feel better?" she pauses and cringes, "Well, it sounds even worse when I put it like that. I'm sorry, I messed up again. Undyne's the person I, um... really want to go on a date with. But I mean... she's way out of my league. N-not that you aren't, um, cool! B-but... Undyne... she's so confident... and strong... and funny... and I'm just nobody. A fraud. I'm the royal scientist, but... All I've ever done is hurt people," Frisk frowns, she had never realised how Alphys thought of herself, 'is this what Flowey meant by being better friends?' after all, this was all new to her. She had not done this last time round. "I've told her so many lies, she thinks I'm... she thinks I'm a lot cooler than I actually am. If she gets close to me, she'll... she'll find out the truth about me... what should I do?" Alphys turns pleading eyes on Frisk, with a gentle smile and placing a small hand on her shoulder,

"Tell her the truth."

"The truth...? But, if I tell her that, she'll hate me. Isn't it better this way? To live a lie where both people are happy... or a truth where neither of us are? They say 'be yourself' but I don't really like who 'myself' is. I'd rather just be whatever makes people like me. Eheheh..." Frisk gives her a stern look and the woman sighs twiddling her fingers nervously, "No, you're right... everyday I'm scared... scared what will happen if people learn the truth on their own. They'll all get hurt because of me. But how can I tell Undyne the t... truth? I d-don't have the confidence... I'm going to mess it up! How can I practice!?" Frisk ponders this for a moment then smiles brightly having the perfect idea,

"Let's role-play it?"

"R... role-play?" Alphys pauses in thought then smiles, "That actually sounds kind of fun! Oh, which one of us will be Undyne?"

"I'll be Undyne," Frisk smiles wider,

"Oh, right, obviously. Ehehe. Ahem. H-hi Undyne... h-how are you doing today?"

"You're cute," Frisk decides to say adding a little flirty wink in the process, Alphys pauses and blushes a little,

"Th... thanks! You say that to me a lot," 'oh does she now?' Frisk felt herself grinning too much at this, "and I never know what to say! But I know, you just, mean it platonically, because we're just friends! Eheheh!" she shifts her weight slightly, "Uhhh, so I'd like to, um, talk to you about something," Frisk could tell Alphys was becoming more nervous so decides to turn things up a little,

"Then she kisses you,"

"Wh-what!? Undyne would never, uh..." there is a long pause before much to Frisk's delight, "I kiss her back... s...softly... I... l-look gently into her eyes," they she raises her voice and Frisk quickly glances around because Alphys' voice echoes a little, "I start hollering! Undyne! I love you! Undyne! Kiss me again, Undyne!" Frisk bites her lip seeing Undyne's shocked face,

"What did you just say?"

"U...Undyne!" Alphys' eyes widen and she quickly becomes flustered, "I... was...just..."

"Hey, woah, wait a second! Your outfit's really cute! What's the occasion?" Alphys and Frisk share an awkward glance, "Wait a second. are you two... on a date?" Frisk starts shaking her head,

"Uhhh, yes! I mean, uhhh no! I mean, we were, but I mean, actually we were only romantically role-playing as you!"

"WHAT?" Undyne looks really confused,

"I MEAN! I mean... Undyne... I... I've been lying to you!" Alphys shifts uneasily as Undyne narrows her eyes, Frisk feels uncomfortable and wonders if she should try and leave them too it,

"What? About what?"

"About... Well... Everything!" Alphys takes a deep breath and takes a step towards Undyne, "I told you that seaweed was like... scientifically important... really, I just... I just use it to make ice cream," she takes another step, "and those human history books I keep reading... those are just dorky comic books!" another step, Frisk feels proud for Alphys, "And those history movies... those... those are just, uh, anime! They aren't real!" she takes another step, bringing her to be right in front of Undyne, "And that time I told you I was busy with work on the phone... I... I was just eating frozen yoghurt in my pajamas! That time..."

"Alphys," Undyne looks down at her, trying to interrupt but Alphys is now on a roll,

"I... I just wanted to impress you! I just wanted you to think I was smart and cool. That I wasn't some... nerdy loser."

"Alphys," Undyne places a hand on her head and strokes it,

"Undyne, I... I really think you're neat, ok..." Frisk feels like she is watching a television drama,

"Alphys," Undyne kneels down and hugs her, "Shhhh, shhhhh," Frisk is internally squealing at how cute this was, until, Undyne picks Alphys up and tosses her into the trash can. She blinks in shock at what just happened before noticing the blush on Undyne's face, "Alphys! I... think you're neat, too, I guess. But, you've gotta realise... most of what you said really doesn't matter to me. I don't care if you're watching kid cartoons or reading history books. To me, ALL of that stuff is just NERDY CRAP! What I like about you is you're PASSIONATE! You're ANALYTICAL! It doesn't matter what it is! YOU CARE ABOUT IT! 100%! AT MAXIMUM POWER!" she turns to look over at where Alphys is peeking out of the trash can, "So, you don't have to lie to me. I don't want you to have to lie to anyone anymore. Alphys... I want to help you become happy with who you are! And I know just the training you need to do that!" Alphys peeks out more,

"Undyne... you... y-you're gonna train me...?"

"Pffft, what? Me?" she laughs, and then out of nowhere behind Undyne, Papyrus pops out, "Nah, I'm gonna get Papyrus to do it."

"GET THOSE BONES SHAKIN'! IT'S TIME TO JOG 100 LAPS, HOOTING ABOUT HOW GREAT WE ARE!" Papyrus is wearing his jogboy shirt and looks ready for exercise, this makes Frisk giggle.

"Ready? I'm about to start the timer!" Undyne grins,

"U-Undyne... I'll do my best...!" and with that, Papyrus and Alphys jog off into the distance leaving Frisk and Undyne alone among the garbage stacks. It is quiet for a moment before they look to one another, Undyne looks worried, stepping forward about to ask what is wrong, Frisk is startled when Undyne suddenly yells,

"OH MY GOD! She was kidding right!? Those cartoons... those comics... Those are still REAL, right? ANIME'S REAL, RIGHT?!" she has this weird crazy smile about her,

"Sure, it's real..." Frisk says slowly, 'some anime can be based off truth so, technically I'm not lying...'

"HA HA HA! I KNEW IT! GIGANTIC SWORDS! MAGICAL PRINCESSES! HERE I COME!" Frisk cringes, 'that's going to come back and bite me when she finds out the truth...' "Uhh, thanks for taking care of Alphys. I didn't get to say what I wanted to, but... Things seem like they're going to get better for her. Well, I gotta go catch up with them! Later!" and off she runs. Frisk smiles to herself,

"I hope I did help..." she hums to herself. She gets lost in thought for a while before snapping back to reality, she gives herself a shake, "Okay Frisk, first let's see if we can find Chara, then! Off to the castle!" she puts on a determined smile and heads off with purpose in her steps.


	15. 14 - The True Lab

Frisk felt like she had been walking around for hours. She had no clue as to where Chara could be, she really hoped he was alright. He was in a mood the last time she saw him and after that weird glitched out moment yesterday before the fight with Mettaton... well she is really worried, and nervous. So nervous that she yelps as her phone rings loudly, she takes a moment to calm her racing heart before answering, it was a call from Papyrus,

"HOWDY! IF IT ISN'T MY GOOD FRIEND, WHO TRUSTS ME. THIS IS PAPYRUS. YOUR ALSO MUTUAL FRIEND." Frisk frowns, 'Is he alright, he sounds... off...' "ALPHYS AND I FINISHED OUR TRAINING EARLY. VERY EARLY. SO I SENT HER HOME. VERY HOME. UH... NOW. I FEEL STRONGLY AND FOR NO APPARENT REASON. YOU SHOULD ALSO GO... THERE. TO HER LAB... HOUSE. I HAVE ONLY GOOD FEELINGS ABOUT THIS. GOODBYE." She stares at the phone for a moment, something felt really off. Papyrus sounded nervous, he did not sound like his usual happy go lucky self, 'should I try call Sans? But technically he hasn't given me his number yet... wait...' her thoughts turn to Alphys, wondering just why Papyrus was insisting she go there. 'Is Alphys okay?' Worrying now she starts to run. She runs all the way to the lab, stumbling through the door and looking around, everything was dark. But on the floor, she spots something, picking it up...

"A note?" she frowns and tries to read the badly written note, "Hey, thanks for your help back there. You guys. Your support really means a lot to me. But. As difficult as it is the say this. You guys alone can't magically make my own problems go away. I don't want to be afraid anymore. And for that to happen, I have to be able to face my own mistakes. I'm going to start doing that now. I want to be clear. This isn't anyone else's problem but mine. But if you don't ever hear from me again... If you want to know 'the truth' Enter the door to the north of this note. You all at least deserve to know what I did." Frisk looks up, a frown of worry gracing her face, "what are you doing Alphys..." she takes a few steps towards the door, strange noises fill the air. Worried and a little panicked out of concern for her friend, Frisk steps through the door and finds herself in an elevator. The door shuts and it starts to descend, a few seconds later it shakes, "not again..." she mumbles eyes flicking around for a handhold as a red light pulsates,

"WARNING! WARNING! Elevator losing power! EM TETHER STABILITY LOST!" a robotic voice announces,

"What! What does that mean!" then there is a sudden rushing sound, the elevator rapidly dropping,

"ALTITUDE DROPPING!" Frisk lets out a scream of fright just before the elevators comes crashing to a stop and everything goes dark.

The light touch of a hand gently shaking her, wakes her. A small groan of pain rumbles out of her and she sits up. Looking around she frowns confused finding herself alone in the dark remnants of the elevator, "Who...?" she shakes her head, that was not the first time she felt the touch of an invisible hand, and she knew it was not Chara. Rubbing her aching shoulder, she looks to the slim crack of light from the partially open doors, standing up she moves closer and pries them open with a little difficulty and steps out onto a dark, grimy and fog-filled corridor. Blinking through the darkness she spots four screens shimmering with static, moving closer she finds they are filled with text and reads them out loud to herself, "This is it... Time to do what the King has asked me to do. I will create the power to free us all. I will unleash the power of the SOUL." a frown flickers on her face and she moves to the next one, "The barrier is locked by SOUL power... Unfortunately, this power cannot be recreated artificially. SOUL power can only be derived from what was once living. So, to create more, we will have to use what we have now... The SOULs of monsters." she moves quickly to the next one, "But extracting a SOUL from a living monster would require incredible power... Besides being impractical, doing so would instantly destroy the SOUL's host. And, unlike the persistent SOULs of humans... The SOULs of most monsters disappear immediately upon death. If only I could make a monster's SOUL last..." she looks to the last one, "I've done it. Using the blueprints, I've extracted it from the human SOULs. I believe this is what gives their SOULs the strength to persist after death. The will to keep living... The resolve to change fate. Let's call this power... 'Determination'..." a shiver runs down her spine, 'determination... someone was... did Alphys write these?'

"What are you doing?" Frisk yelps in fright at the voice and spins around slamming back against the wall,

"CHARA!" she yells, hand over her heart, "Will you stop doing that to me!"

"Not my fault you don't pay attention," he raises a brow,

"Where have you been, I was looking for you?" Frisk pushes off the wall, her heart still pounding,

"Clearly..." Chara looks around the place then shakes his head, "I was around..." he frowns, "somewhere, I don't know," he looks confused and frustrated, "I can't really remember,"

"Are you okay?" Frisk asks in concern stepping closer to him,

"I'm fine..." he grumbles, "anyway what are you doing here? I saw that flower talking to tall bones and when I got close, I heard him saying you should come here..."

"I knew something wasn't right with Papyrus," Frisk purses her lips and frowns before shrugging, "I came to find Alphys, I'm worried about her,"

"And now you're stuck," Chara sighs exasperatedly and glances at the elevator, or what is left of it, "You really do get yourself into trouble don't you, couldn't you have like, avoided this? Since you've done this before?"

"Well, technically I haven't done this before," Frisk tells him earning a questioning look, "I didn't come here last time, I don't know what this place even is," she shrugs,

"Huh... well, I think it's the old lab..." Chara frowns, "Though I don't know how I know that..." Frisk takes his hand,

"Let's find Alphys, I'm sure she will know a way of getting out of here," she gives him a smile, one he returns after a few moments before letting her pull him along. He frowns at her back, part of him had not wanted to return to her, after that black out... it disturbed him that he could not remember what he did, one moment he was on the skeleidiots roof and the next he was in the middle of Hotland, he had rushed back to Snowdin to find Frisk gone and after following the smiley trash bag and tall bones he found out she was also in Hotland. And they all seemed concerned how she got there. 'Was it something I did? Why can't I remember?' Frisk slows to a stop as they come into a room with several sticky looking operating tables and three sinks, she looks over to two screens much like the ones she had been reading in the other room, "This place kind of gives me the creeps," she admits while moving to read the screens, "ASGORE asked everyone outside the city for monsters that had 'fallen down.' Their bodies came in today. They're still comatose... And soon, they'll all turn into dust. But what happens if I inject 'determination' into them? If their SOULS persist after they perish, then... Freedom might be closer than we all thought."

"So, someone was experimenting on monsters?" Chara frowns, Frisk just hums before reading the next one,

"Things aren't going well. none of the bodies have turned into dust, so I can't get the SOULs. I told the families that I would give them the dust back for the funerals. people are starting to ask me what's happening. what do I do?" a sad frown flickers across her brow, "I don't know if they should have been messing with it..." they share a look before looking around the room,

"Hey Frisk, there's a red key in this sink," Chara informs her, Frisk comes over and picks it up, they both look over to a nearby slot that the key can be inserted into, but before either move, a noise sounds up behind them. Slowly they turn around, Frisk gasps in shock, "What in the hells is that!" Chara yelps pulling Frisk back while they stared at the strange shifting unknown form, "is that a monster?"

"I... I don't know," she then lets out a little shriek as the thing rushes them, "C..Chara!"

Breathing heavily, they watch as it shambles away, "That was the weirdest encounter ever..." Chara says through Frisk's lips, 'too weird' her thoughts responds, he gives her control back after a moment of self-struggle, "Let's hope there is only that one..." she nods in response and the continue on.

In another room they find more screens, Frisk immediately hops over to them, "Nothing is happening. I don't know what to do. I'll just keep injecting everything with 'determination.' i want this to work...one of the bodies opened its eyes...Everyone that had fallen down... ... has woken up. They're all walking around and talking like nothing is wrong. I thought they were goners...?" Frisk and Chara share a surprised look,

"You mean they actually did it?" he shakes his head, "you not concerned about this... if they can take humans determination and 'inject' it into monsters... that's..." he frowns deeply,

"I don't know... we don't know the whole story yet, so, let's keep looking," Frisk says, always trying to stay positive, Chara liked that about her, but knew it would also be the girls downfall, 'the monsters don't deserve your mercy Frisk, you're too good to them,' but he knew she would never see things his way, not for now at least. They continue exploring, reading a couple more screens, "We'll need a vessel to wield the monster SOULs when the time comes. After all, a monster cannot absorb the SOULs of other monsters. Just as a human cannot absorb a human SOUL... So then... What about something that's neither human nor monster? Um I think this one is before the last ones we read,"

"Probably yeah, same with this one... experiments on the vessel are a failure. it doesn't seem to be any different from the control cases. whatever. they're a hassle to work with anyway. the seeds just stick to you, and won't let go..."

"Seeds?" Chara questions, Frisk points to the long line of golden flowers, a deep frown on her face, "I don't like how they resemble that 'friend' of yours,"

"Maybe it's a coincidence..." but even Frisk felt suspicious, Flowey knew about the resets, before even she did, just how much more did he know... She stifles a yawn,

"You need to rest, I know it's creepy down here but let's go back to the other room and you can take a nap," Frisk reluctantly agrees,

"I have been up since a ridiculous time, thanks to Papyrus and Undyne," she shakes her head but then chuckles, "It's been an interesting day..."

"Oh, had fun, did you?" Chara pouts, Frisk giggles lightly and shrugs,

"I had a date in the garbage dump,"

"Wait... what?" Chara gives her a look of disbelief as Frisk lies down,

"It was only... a pretend... date..." the girl yawns and falls asleep,

"Jeez you were tired... strange girl..." he shakes his head then reaches for her. He freezes before his hand touches her, "what was I just going to do...?" he pulls himself back rapidly as a deep dark hunger rushes through him, "No..." he shakes his head, "It wouldn't be right... what am I thinking!" he quickly puts more distance between himself and Frisk. He wanted to possess her, he wanted to control her... he wanted to kill... he tenses up. A hand rises up from the other side of the bed Frisk is on, it moves the blanket over her and vanishes. He stands there for a moment shaking, "Something is wrong with me..."

...

Frisk was concerned with how quiet Chara was after she woke up, but he would not talk about what was bothering him, with a sigh she focused on finding Alphys and reading the signs. Chara showed no care for them anymore so she read them quietly, "Seems like this research was a dead end... But at least we got a happy ending out of it...? I sent the SOULS back to ASGORE, returned the vessel to his garden... And I called all of the families and told them everyone's alive. I'll send everyone back tomorrow." a smiley face was on the end of that note, whoever wrote these was happy, but Frisk's thoughts were on the vessel... The next screen seemed to diverge away from what the others discussed, and it was clear this was definitely Alphys, "now that Mettaton's made it big, he never talks to me anymore. ... except to ask when I'm going to finish his body. but I'm afraid if I finish his body, he won't need me anymore... then we'll never be friends ever again. ... not to mention, every time I try to work on it, I just get really sweaty..." she moves on, eyeing the large skull like contraption in the room, "Not frightening at all..."shaking her head she tears her gaze away from it to read the next screen, a series of 'no's' crossing it, 'that doesn't bode well...' she then finds a door. Stepping into a new room she finds a television and two tall shelves filled with VHS tapes, Chara leans against the wall by the door as Frisk's curious nature pulls her forwards. She takes a tape and puts it into the VHS player, she pouts at finding there is no visual content to the video but the audio comes through clear and a feeling of sadness and joy fills her heart at the sound of Toriel's voice,

"Pssst. Gorey, wake up."

"Mmm? what is it dear?... er, and why do you have a video camera?" Frisk blinks, that was Asgore's voice,

"Shush! I want to get your reaction, Gorey, dearest. What is my favourite vegetable?"

"Hmmm... Carrots, right?"

"No, no, no! My favourite vegetable is... Eda-MOM-e... get it?" Frisk giggles, Toriel seems to love puns almost as much as Sans,

"... Go back to bed dear."

"No, no! Not yet! Hee hee hee. Now, if I were a dog, what breed of dog would I be?"

"Hmmm..." Asgore sounded sleepy, "I don't know honey. What kind of dog would you be?"

"I would be... A MOMERANIAN."

"Hohoho! You sure are excited to have this child." Frisk smiles and glances over at Chara, but their face is hidden in the shadows, "You know, if you keep making jokes like this... One day, you could be... a famous MOMedian."

"... Well, I am going to bed." Frisk smiles amused,

"Hey! Come on Tori! That one was funny!"

"Hahaha, I know. I am just teasing you. Goodnight dear."

"Goodnight honey."

"...Oh dear, perhaps it is too dark in here for the video to come out." Silence follows and Frisk glances at the other videos, Chara has not moved an inch. Frisk puts the next video in, a young high-pitched boys voice bleats out,

"Okay, Chara, are you ready? Do your creepy face!" both Frisk and Chara freeze in shock, "Ahhh! Hee hee hee! Oh! I had the lens cap on..."

"Well I'm not doing it again," Chara's slightly younger voice comes from the video, they both look at one another, Chara pushing off the wall, confusion on his face,

"What!? You're not gonna do it again...?"

"Hmm, well maybe?"

"Come on, quite tricking me! Haha!" the video ends,

"Chara?" Frisk whispers,

"Put another one on," he half demands, Frisk hesitantly does so, and the young unknown boys voice rings out again,

"Howdy Chara! Smile for the camera! Ha, this time I got YOU! I left the cap on... ON PURPOSE! Now you're smiling for noooo reason. Hee hee hee."

"You got me... hey do you remember these?" Chara's voice sounds more like he does now, he's staring hard at the floor right now,

"What? Oh, yeah, I remember. When we tried to make butterscotch pie for Dad, right? The recipe asked for cups of butter... But we accidentally put in buttercups instead. Yeah! Those flowers got him really sick. I felt so bad. We made Mom really upset. I should have laughed it off like you did... Um, anyway, where are you going with this?"

"Turn that off?"

"Huh? Turn off the camera...? OK." Frisk waits for Chara to say something but he is silent, she cautiously puts the next one on, "I... I don't like this idea Chara."

"Are you crying?"

"Wh... what? N-no, I'm not... big kids don't cry."

"Then it sounds like you don't trust me. Everything will be fine,"

"Yeah, you're right."

"Do you doubt me?" Frisk did not like where this was going,

"No! I'd never doubt you Chara. Never!"

"If we do this, our wish will come true,"

"Y... yeah! We'll be strong! We'll free everyone. I'll go get the flowers." it goes silent again. Frisk did not want to put the last one on, she had a really bad feeling,

"There's one more right," Chara's voice was devoid of emotion, it scared Frisk a little, "put it on," Frisk shakes her head, she did not want to hear what the last one had on it, "put it on Frisk!" Chara's eyes turned a deep darker red and looked at her with a rage that sent cold spikes of fear down her spine, she spins around and quickly puts that last video in, Toriel's voice rings out,

"Chara... Can you hear me? We want you to wake up..."

"Chara! You have to stay determined! You can't give up! You are the future of humans and monsters..." Asgore's voice was full of pain and worry,

"Psst... Chara... Please... Wake up... I don't like this plan anymore. I... I... no, I said... I said I'd never doubt you. Six, right? We just have to get six... And we'll do it together, right?" Slowly Frisk turns to peek at Chara. Their fists are clenched and they are shaking,

"Ch-Chara?" Frisk stutters, she stares at Chara with worry and a deep sense of fear, if she did not think it was the darkness playing tricks on her eyes, she could have sworn a dark aura surrounded the ghostly boy, "Chara?"

"I don't want to discuss it," Chara growls before spinning and exiting the room fast, after a hesitant moment she runs after him. But he's gone. She stands and frowns, she knew from last time around that Toriel and Asgore had a child, Asriel, 'and they adopted a human child... so...' she shakes her head, everything was confusing but one thing she knew for sure,

"You weren't killed by monsters Chara... what did you do?" with a sigh she continued to look for Chara while also looking for Alphys. The darkness of this place made her jumpy and the fact she was now alone, again, she was scared and relieved when she comes across the generator, quickly turning on the power, lights flicker on above her and she turns around. She freezes, a shriek trapped in her throat as her exit is blocked by the strange melted creatures, she takes a step back, but they move forward, slowly, inching closer to her, panic steadily rising through her, 'Chara... Sans... anyone!' she mentally screams and shuts her eyes waiting for the impending pain of death looming closer.

"Hey! Stop! I got you guys some food, okay!?" Alphys' voice shouts out, there is a bunch of shuffling about and when Frisk peeks her eyes open, she sees the monsters backing off, Alphys turns to her, a nervous smile on her face, "Sorry about that... They get kind of sassy when they don't get fed on time. Um! Anyway! the power went out, and I've been trying to turn it back on! But it seems like you were one step ahead of me. This is probably just a big inconvenience for you..." Frisk shakes her head and moves closer to her, "B-but I appreciate that you came here to back me up! As I said, I was afraid I might... Not come back...But that's not because of these guys or anything!" She assures, "I was just worried I would be to afraid... To tell the truth... That I might run away, or do something... cowardly..." Alphys looks down, Frisk recognises the look on her face and takes her hand, 'cowardly... like I did...' "Uh... I... I suppose I owe you an explanation. As you probably know, Asgore asked me to study the nature of SOULs. During my research, I isolated a power I called 'determination'. I injected it into dying monsters so their SOULs would last after death. But the experiment failed. You see, unlike humans', monsters' bodies don't have enough... physical matter to take those concentrations of 'determination'. Their bodies started to melt, and lost what physicality they had." Frisk looks to the door where those strange monsters have clustered together, 'so that's what they are...' "Pretty soon, all of the test subjects had melted together into... Those." Alphys also looks to them, "Seeing them like this, I knew... I couldn't tell their families about it. I couldn't tell anyone about it. No matter how much everyone was asking me. And I was too afraid to do any more work, knowing... everything I'd done so far had been such a horrific failure... But now. Now, I've changed my mind about all this. I'm going to tell everyone what I've done... It's going to be hard. Being honest... Believing in myself... I'm sure there will be times where I'll struggle. I'm sure there will be times where I screw up again. But knowing, deep down, that I have friends to fall back on... I know it'll be a lot easier to stand on my own. Thank you," she smiles wide at Frisk before turning to the monsters, "Come on guys, it's time for everyone to go home." she glances at Frisk, "I fixed the elevators too, so don't worry about getting out. I... I'll see you later?" Frisk nods and watches them all leave. She was really happy that Alphys was facing her fears. She gives herself a shake, she had to get out of here also, and hopefully find Chara. They really needed to have a talk.

She continues on pausing at a set of screens that had not been powered before, reading them causes her to pause, "I've chosen a candidate. I haven't told ASGORE yet, because I want to surprise him with it... In the centre of his garden, there's something special. The first golden flower, that grew before all the others. The flower from the outside world. It appeared just before the queen left. I wonder... What happens when something without a SOUL gains the will to live?... No way..." the last one simply stated, "the flower's gone." 'Did... did Alphys create Flowey...?' she hurries on, "I have to ask her, I have to confirm this," she steps into an elevator, it had two sets of doors and both of them snap closed before she can move through the next set. The elevator rumbles, "I'm starting to think I have bad luck for elevators..." it jerks and starts to rise shakily, Frisk gulps nervously and jumps a little when her phone rings, she answers it quickly and almost drops it when a voice similar to that from those videos comes from it,

"Chara... Are you there? It's been a long time, hasn't it...? But you've done well. Thanks to you, everything has fallen into place. Chara... See you soon." The line goes dead, leaving Frisk questioning what was going on. The elevator finally comes to a stop and she steps out, rapidly before her very eyes, vines stretch across it.

"Flowey..." she frowns and looks around finding herself in the capitol, "guess there is no turning back now..." she only wished Chara was with her. "If Alphys can face her fears, so can I. Things will be different this time!" And with that declaration she storms off ahead, and she is filled with determination.


	16. 15 - Is This THE End?

Frisk cautiously walked through the capitol; an eerie silence filled the air making her nerves rise. The last time she came her she had spoken to many monsters; their story fills her ears as if she is hearing it all once again. 'A long time ago, a human fell into the RUINS. Injured by its fall, the human called out for help. Asriel, the king's son, heard the human's call. He brought the human back to the castle. Over time, Asriel and the human became like siblings. The King and Queen treated the human child as their own. The underground was full of hope. Then... One day... The human became very ill. The sick human had only one request. To see the flowers from their village. But there was nothing we could do. The next day... The human died. Asriel, wracked with grief, absorbed the human's SOUL. He transformed into a being with incredible power. With the human SOUL, Asriel crossed through the barrier. He carried the human's body into the sunset. Back to the village of the humans. Asriel reached the centre of the village. There, he found a bed of golden flowers. He carried the human onto it. Suddenly, screams rang out. The villagers saw Asriel holding the human's body. They thought that he had killed the child. The humans attacked him with everything they had. He was struck with blow after blow. Asriel had the power to destroy them all. But... Asriel did not fight back. Clutching the human... Asriel smiled, and walked away. Wounded, Asriel stumbled home. He entered the castle and collapsed. His dust spread across the garden. The kingdom fell into despair. The king and queen had lost two children in one night. The humans had once again taken everything from us. The king decided it was time to end our suffering. Every human who falls down here must die. With enough souls, we can shatter the barrier forever. It's not long now. King Asgore will let us go, will give us hope, will save us all. You should be smiling, too. Aren't you excited? Aren't you happy?You're going to be free.' A shudder runs through her at the memory, they had all let her past without trying to harm her. All with the knowledge that she had been heading towards her potential death. She did not hold it against them, they just wanted to be free, they deserved to be free. She just did not know how to grant that wish of theirs.

As she walked the familiar path and into the small home that Asgore lived in, she has to admit that she was a fool, "Why did it not occur to me just who Chara was, I knew the story, I knew the Dreemurr's adopted a human child, and I knew he wasn't one of the other fallen." She sighs and shakes her head, pausing at the top of the stairs, "He didn't remember... he must be so confused..." she hesitates, but after a moment her shoulders slump, "I'll come find you once this is over Chara. Things have to be different this time... they have to be," and with that, she starts down the stairs, holding onto the fragile confidence. It was time.

She found judgement hall empty, her footsteps echoed through the golden hall and she frowns slightly but takes Sans' absence as a good sign that things will be different, at least that is what she hopes. She found the throne room also empty, which set her nerves hitching up, but she continued on. She found Asgore waiting in the barrier room. A strange light fills the room, like the twilight is shining through the barrier, 'Dawn is coming... is this the end of my journey?'

"This is the barrier." Asgore's deep voice echoes around them, he must have heard her approach, "This is what keeps us all trapped underground... If... If by any chance you have any unfinished business..." He turns to look at her, his reluctance for this encounter to begin clear as day to her, "Please do what you must." his tone is almost pleading. 'Things will be different this time, I refuse to hurt anyone ever again...' she lets her determination flow through her, Asgore seems to note her resolve and sighs, "I see... This is it, then." The soul containers rise up from the floor in a circular formation. An empty container rising up beside Asgore, "Ready?" she nods to him slowly, words she wished to convey lodging in her throat. Her soul leaps out, hovering just before her chest, its red glow, vivid, bright and pulsating softly. Asgore hesitantly steps forwards and Frisk looks to him again. "Human... It was nice to meet you. Goodbye." He glances down refusing to meet her gaze as he prepares to attack, Frisk tenses up, scared and wary though ready. But then, a familiar looking fireball comes flying from behind her and hits Asgore, knocking him off his feet. Frisk blinks in shock and spins around as she is suddenly engulfed in a large furry embrace,

"What a miserable creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth... Do not be afraid, my child." Frisk is let go and she looks up into a face shining down with love, "It is I, Toriel, your friend and guardian." Toriel checks over Frisk, frowning lightly at the state of her sweater. "At first, I thought I would let you make your journey alone... But I could not stop worrying about you. Your adventure must have been so treacherous. ... and ultimately, it would burden you with a horrible choice. To leave this place, you would have to take the life of another person. You would have to defeat Asgore. However... I realised... I cannot allow that. It is not right to sacrifice someone simply to let someone leave here. Is that not what I have been trying to prevent this whole time? So, for now, let us suspend this battle. As terrible as Asgore is... He deserves mercy, too." Frisk blinks up at Toriel as the elder woman sent a small glare towards Asgore, 'Why didn't she come last time...'

"Tori... you came back...!" Asgore sits up from where he landed,

"Do not 'Tori' me, Dreemurr! You pathetic whelp. If you really wanted to free our kind... You could have gone through the barrier after you got ONE SOUL... taken six SOULs from the humans, then come back and freed everyone peacefully. But instead, you made everyone live in despair... Because you would rather wait here, meekly hoping another human never comes." Toriel was clearly holding a grudge against Asgore,

"...Tori...You're right... I am a miserable creature... ... but, do you think we can at least be friends again?" he gives her the most hopeful look, Frisk glances up at Toriel as she sighs and looks away from the man, 'Not a good sign...'

"No, Asgore." 'Ouch,' Frisk felt a little pity for the King, even if he had ordered all those humans who fell to die, it was not as if he had wanted to do so. Before anything else can be said, Undyne comes crashing into the room making Frisk jump in shock,

"Ngahhhhhh! Asgore! Human! Nobody fight each other! Everyone's gonna make friends, or else I'll...! I'll..." Undyne pauses, her gaze flicking from one person to the next before landing on Toriel,

"Hello. I am Toriel. Are you the human's friend? It is nice to meet you."

"Uh, yeah...? Nice to meet you!" she sends Frisk a wide-eyed look before moving over to help the King up and hissing out, "Hey Asgore, is that your ex?" he nods and she gives him a look of pity, "Jeez. That's rough, buddy." and then, Alphys stumbles into the room,

"H-hey! Nobody hurt each other! ..." she almost falls over when she spots Toriel,

"Oh! Are you another friend? I am Toriel. Hello!" Toriel smiles brightly at the nervous scientist,

"Uh, h-h-hi! ..." she glances between Asgore and Toriel before looking at Frisk with a look that clearly screamed out "There's two of them?" Frisk offers a small amused smile which turns to startled shock as Papyrus storms into the room, 'is everyone just going to keep turning up?'

" HEY! NOBODY FIGHT ANYONE! IF ANYONE FIGHTS ANYONE...! THEN I'LL! BE FORCED! TO ASK UNDYNE FOR HELP!" Frisk almost laughs,

"Hello!" Toriel chuckles,

"OH! HELLO, YOUR MAJESTY!" he frowns a little confused and looks to Frisk, "PSST! HEY, HUMAN... DID ASGORE SHAVE...? AND... CLONE HIMSELF?" Frisk does giggle this time then gasps as a hand lands on her shoulder,

"Hey guys... what's up?" she turns to find Sans who gives her a small wink and a smile,

"That voice...! Hello. I think we may... Know each other?" Toriel smiles wide, Sans looks shocked for a moment, shares a glance with Frisk before looking to Toriel,

"Oh hey... i recognise your voice, too." Frisk smiles at the skeleton,

"I am Toriel. So nice to meet you."

"The name's Sans. And, uh, same." Sans gives Frisk a slight nudge when she giggles at his nervousness, but he smiles along with her,

"Oh! Wait, then...! This must be your brother, Papyrus!" Toriel quickly turns back to Papyrus, "Greetings, Papyrus! It is so nice to finally meet you! Your brother has told me so much about you."

"WOWIE... I CAN'T BELIEVE ASGORE'S CLONE KNOWS WHO I AM! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

"Hey, Papyrus... What does a skeleton tile his roof with?" 'oh no...' Frisk looks to Sans and his amused smile widens,

"HMMM... SNOW-PROOF ROOF TILES?" Frisk shakes her head slightly, seeing him fall into the trap like he had done so many times with Sans, Sans was already chuckling quietly in anticipation,

"No, silly! A skeleton tiles his roof with... SHIN-gles!" both Toriel and Sans laugh, Frisk even finds herself trying hard not to chuckle along, especially with the unimpressed face Papyrus pulls,

"I CHANGED MY MIND! THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!" Frisk has to look away and she turns to see Undyne and Alphys trying to comfort Asgore,

"Come on, Asgore! It's gonna be OK! There are plenty of fish in the sea..." Undyne says slapping him on the shoulder,

"Y-yeah, Asgore! Undyne's totally right about that fish thing! S-sometimes you've just got to, uh... Stop going after furry boss monsters and, uh... J-just get to know a really cute fish...? ... It's a metaphor." Alphys perks up encouragingly and ending with a bright blush,

"Well. I think it's a good analogy." Undyne adds with a small flustered smile. From behind them all at the entrance Mettaton's voice shouts out,

"OH MY GOD! WILL YOU TWO JUST SMOOCH ALREADY!? THE AUDIENCE IS DYING FOR SOME ROMANTIC ACTION!" and he is gone as quickly as he came,

"HEY, SHUT UP! Man, the nerve of that guy! Right, Alphys!? ... Uh, Alphys?" Undyne looks down at Alphys with a small blush,

"... No. He's right. LET'S DO IT." That is the most confidence Frisk has seen come from the woman. There is a long-shocked silence from Undyne as her face slowly flushes a deep dark red,

"Well? Uh? I guess? If you want to? Then? Don't hold anything back!" she grins, Frisk withholds her squeal as they both move to kiss one another. Much to her disappointment though Toriel rushes forwards and separates them,

"W-wait! Not in front of the human!" Frisk pouts and rolls her eyes, Sans beside her chuckles and gives her shoulder a pity squeeze,

"Uhh, right! S-sorry, I got a little carried away there." Alphys apologises, Toriel chuckles before turning to look at Frisk,

"My child, it seems as if you must stay here for a while. But looking at all the great friends you have made... I think... I think you will be happy here." Toriel was right of course, looking around, Frisk knew she had made really great friends, she was closer to them all than she was last time. She could be happy here, but she would be happier if she could help release them,

"H-hey, that reminds me. Papyrus... YOU called everyone here, right? Well, besides, uh, her. Uh, anyway... If I got here before you... How did you know how to call everybody?" Alphys suddenly asks, Frisk has a sinking feeling,

"LET'S JUST SAY... A TINY FLOWER HELPED ME." Frisk freezes at his words, Sans' grip on her shoulder tenses and glancing at him she finds the glowing eye lights in his sockets have gone out,

"A tiny... flower?" Alphys gasps out in fear, 'Flowey...' Before anyone can react, vines whip out and wrap around all the monsters, 'No...!' Frisk's eyes dart to the small yellow flower that pops up in front of her grinning,

"You IDIOTS. While you guys were having your little pow-wow... I took the human SOULS!" Frisk spins around the find all the containers empty, 'no... not again...' "And now, not only are THOSE under my power... But all of your FRIENDS' SOULS are gonna be mine, too!" a small growl leaves her throat,

"Flowey..."

"Hee hee hee. And you know what the best part is? It's all your fault. It's all because you MADE THEM love you. All the time you spent listening to them... Encouraging them... Caring about them... Without that, they wouldn't have come here." she stares in horror at him, wondering if he had planned this all along when he told her about the reset. "And now, with their souls and the humans' together... I will achieve my REAL FORM. Hee hee..." she shakes her head,

"Why...? I thought..."

"Huh? WHY am I still doing this? Don't you get it? This is all just a GAME. If you leave the underground satisfied, you'll 'win' the game. If you 'win,' you won't want to 'play' with me anymore. And what would I do then? But this game between us will NEVER end." was this loneliness? Was this him reaching out to her? She was so confused, "I'll hold victory in front of you, just within your reach... And then tear it away just before you grasp it. Over, and over, and over... Hee hee hee." a sly smile crosses his little face, "Listen. If you DO defeat me, I'll give you your 'happy ending.' I'll bring your friends back. I'll destroy the barrier. Everyone will finally be satisfied. But that WON'T happen. You...! I'll keep you here no matter what!" he wiggles about with glee and surrounds Frisk with his 'friendliness' pellets, "Even if it means killing you 1,000,000 times!" Frisk tenses up and closes her eyes as they fly towards her, she cries out as they hit her over and over until, "What?" she feels heat surround her and opening her eyes she is surprised to fireballs protecting her,

"Do not be afraid my child... No matter what happens... We will always be there to protect you!" Toriel smiles encouragingly even though it is clear she is in pain from the vines wrapped around her, Flowey growls and sends another wave of pellets at Frisk, this time bones and spears block them,

"THAT'S RIGHT, HUMAN! YOU CAN WIN! JUST DO WHAT I, WOULD DO... BELIEVE IN YOU!"

"Hey! Human! If you got past ME, you can do ANYTHING! So, don't worry! We're with you all the way!" Undyne grins,

"Huh? You haven't beaten this guy yet? Come on, this weirdo's got nothin' on you." Sans sends her a wink, Flowey gets more angered and sends another barrage, static and fire fly around her protectively,

"Technically, it's impossible for you to beat him... B-but... Somehow, I know you can do it!" Alphys nods,

"Human, for the future of humans and monsters...! You have to stay determined...!" Asgore meets her gaze steadily, and she takes a deep breath, standing up straight and facing Flowey as the room fills around them with all the friends she has made on her journey, she feels their positive encouragements and her wounds begin to heal.

"Urrrgh... NO! Unbelievable! This can't be happening! You... You...!" Flowey starts to chuckle, "I can't believe you're all so STUPID." He laughs louder and Frisk is suddenly blinded by a flash of bright white light as Flowey starts to absorb all the souls. She clenches her eyes shut, "ALL OF YOUR SOULS ARE MINE!" after a few moments of silence that follows, she opens her eyes and blinks rapidly, a few steps in front of her is, a monster she has never met before, at least that is what she believes until they speak, "Finally. I was so tired of being a flower." Slowly they turn around revealing themselves to be a small goat like monster similar in appearance to Toriel and Asgore, wearing a long sleeved green and yellow shirt and black pants, a small smile graces their face, "Howdy! Chara, are you there? It's me, your best friend." Before Frisk can correct him there is another flash and she is quickly blinking to regain her vision, when she does their form has changed to a much older goat monster, his scleroses having turned black, his fangs becoming longer and a pair of horns adorn his head. He now also wears a dark robe with white sleeves and the delta rune on the front. "Asriel Dreemurr," he practically growls out his name before swiping his hand and sending a wave of fireballs at her. With a yelp she manages to avoid some but not all, a cry of pain escapes her and she watches as her soul splits in two, 'No, I cannot give up, I must stay DETERMINED! I RUFUSE!' and with that refusal her soul fused back together and determination floods through her. Asriel smirks and waves his hand again and Frisk finds herself running and dodging falling stars, she crashes to the floor biting her tongue and tasting blood, "You know... I don't care about destroying this world anymore." Frisk scrambles to move, rolling to avoid bolts of lightning, breathing heavily she gets back to her feet, "After I defeat you and gain total control over the timeline... I just want to reset everything." He comes towards her swinging two swords he summoned; she barely dodges. gulping she watches a few strands of hair drift to the floor, "All your progress... Everyone's memories. I'll bring them all back to zero!" this time she is hit by the bolts of lightning, crying out she drops to her knees, 'No, I can't give up, I refuse to give up, I REFUSE TO DIE!' she struggles to her feet once again, determination rising within her rapidly, "Then we can do everything ALL over again." She moves with a fluidity she never realised she had, dodging the stars falling around her, "And you know what the best part of all this is? You'll DO it," he laughs, he summons some kind of blaster and Frisk quickly side steps the beams, "And then you'll lose to me again." And she is back to dodging his swords, 'I have to keep going, no matter how tired I feel, I can do this, I have to do this! I must survive somehow!' "And again. And again! Because you want a 'happy ending.' Because you 'love your friends.' Because you 'never give up'." They all sounded like accusations, Frisk breathes heavily, having almost died once again, but each time she refuses, she refuses to give up. "Isn't that delicious? Your 'determination.' The power that let you get this far... It's gonna be your downfall!" He starts laughing again, "Now, ENOUGH messing around! It's time to purge this timeline once and for all!" A strange skull like thing appears before her, it reminds her a little of the machine she came across in the true lab, it laughs evilly sending a shiver of fear down her spine before a vortex of sorts forms in front of it, Frisk feels herself being pulled towards it, she struggles with all her might against being pulled in. She has no relief when it stops, "... even after that attack, you're still standing in my way...? Wow... you really ARE something special. But don't get cocky. Up until now, I've only been using a fraction of my REAL power! Let's see what good your DETERMINATION is against THIS!" she stares in shock as his form changes once again, wings that continuously shift and change colour spread out behind him, almost like,

"An angel..." she could not help but compare this form to the delta rune, "could he be the one of the prophecy...?" she shakes her head, 'it couldn't be...'

"Urah ha ha... Behold my TRUE power!" he spreads his arms out wide sending a barrage of projectiles towards her and hitting her, once again, she refuses to give up, refuses to die, " I can feel it... Every time you die, your grip on this world slips away. Every time you die, your friends forget you a little more. Your life will end here, in a world where no one remembers you..." she frowns at him, 'my friends... are they still there? Somewhere inside of him?' "Still you're hanging on...? That's fine. In a few moments, you'll forget everything, too. That attitude will serve you well in your next life!" she stands her ground and glares up at him, "Ura ha ha... Still!? Come on... Show me what good your DETERMINATION is now!"

"Oh, I'll show you alright," she snips and closes her eyes, reaching out with her heart and soul, reaching for her friends, and, she feels them respond, their forms flicker in front of her as everything else freezes, she focuses on the form closest to her, "Undyne, you have to keep teaching me to cook!" the form in front of her shifts and Frisk gives her one of her biggest smiles, willing them to remember, her form suddenly becomes vividly clear and she grins back,

"Well, some humans are ok, I guess!"

"Huh? What are you doing...?" Asriel demands feeling the shift, Frisk ignores him and focuses again, reaching out to the next one,

"Alphys, I will always support you! I want us to be really good friends, we have to watch anime together!" Alphys' form flickers before becoming clear,

"My friends like me! And I like you, too!" she smiles back at Frisk,

"Wh... what did you do...?" Frisk continues to ignore Asriel, and reaches out, telling bad puns and talking about puzzles,

"YOU'RE MY FRIEND! I COULD NEVER CAPTURE YOU!" Papyrus gives Frisk a thumbs up,

"I'm rootin for ya, kid," Sans winks, and she reaches out again, promising them she will save everyone, pleading with them and telling them how she wanted to eat butterscotch-cinnamon pie with them,

"Your fate is up to you now!" Toriel smiles encouragingly,

"You are our future!" Asgore nods.

"What's this feeling...? What's happening to me?" Asriel growls, Frisk looks to him, determination flowing strongly throughout her,

"They aren't the only ones I can save; I want to save you too Asriel!" Frisk shouts, reaching out to him,

"No! NO! I don't need ANYONE! STOP IT! Get away from me! Do you hear me!? I'll tear you apart!" But Frisk refuses and steps closer while dodging his attacks, "... Chara... Do you know why I'm doing this...?" Frisk frowns,

"I'm not..."

"Why I keep fighting to keep you around...? I'm doing this... Because you're special, Chara." the attacks hurtle past her, close for her to feel the heat but not close enough to cause harm,

"I'm n..."

"You're the only one that understands me. You're the only one who's any fun to play with anymore... No... That's not JUST it. I... I... I'm doing this because I care about you Chara!" Frisk really wished Chara was with her right now, "I care about you more than anybody else! I'm not ready for this to end. I'm not ready for you to leave. I'm not ready to say goodbye to someone like you again..." his voice was full of pain, a pain that called out to Frisk, she really wanted to help him but he builds up an attack and she tenses for impact, knowing there was no way she could avoid it, "So, please... STOP doing this... AND JUST LET ME WIN!" the intense beam slams into her, pain radiates over her entire body but she grits her teeth and holds on, "STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!" it gets stronger and Frisk feels herself shaking, everything blurs but she refuses to give up eventually dropping to one knee breathing in hard short gasps of air, Asriel's form shimmers, "...Chara... I'm so alone, Chara, I'm so afraid, Chara... Chara, I... I," he returns to his small goat boy form, tears running down his face and Frisk gets unsteadily to her feet, "I'm so sorry. I always was a crybaby, wasn't I, Chara..." he sighs, "... I know. You're not actually Chara, Chara's been gone for a long time... Um... What IS your name?"

"My name, is Frisk," she gives him a small smile,

"That's... A nice name... Frisk... I haven't felt like this for a very long time. As a flower, I was soulless." He looks down at his hands, "I lacked the power to love other people. However, with everyone's souls inside me..." he meets Frisk's gaze again, pain in his eyes, "I not only have my own compassion back... But I can feel every other monster's as well. They all care about each other so much. And... they care about you too, Frisk... I wish I could tell you how everyone feels about you. Papyrus... Sans... Undyne... Alphys... Toriel." He shakes his head, "Monsters are weird. Even though they barely know you... It feels like they all really love you. Haha... Frisk... I... I understand if you can't forgive me. I understand if you hate me. I acted so strange and horrible. I hurt you. I hurt so many people. Friends, family, bystanders... There's no excuse for what I've done." Frisk shakes her head, if he truly was soulless and could not feel love as a flower, how could she hold his actions against him, that would only feed the hatred that has already infected the world,

"Of course, I forgive you Asriel," she gives him a bright sincere smile,

"Wh... what?" he looks at her as if she has lost her mind but then tears up, "Frisk, come on. You're... You're gonna make me cry again... besides, even if you do forgive me..." he looks so lost as his shoulders slump a little, "I can't keep these souls inside of me. The least I can do is return them." Then a glint of determination flickers through his eyes, "But first... There's something I have to do. Right now, I can feel everyone's hearts beating as one. They're all burning with the same desire. With everyone's power... With everyone's determination... It's time for monsters... To finally go free."

"Wait, can you actually break the barrier?" Frisk asks startled, hope flaring within her, Asriel nods and gives her a smile before closing his eyes and focusing on everyone's hopes and dreams. Frisk gasps in awe as the souls fly around, rising up and dancing. The fallen humans' souls circle her a few times before joining all the other souls. Once more Frisk is temporarily blinded, and then a sound like the very air is ripping cracks through the space around them. Frisk snaps her eyes open and stares. The barrier has been broken.

"Frisk... I have to go now. Without the power of everyone's souls... I can't keep maintaining this form. In a little while... I'll turn back into a flower. I'll stop being 'myself.' I'll stop being able to feel love again. So... Frisk. It's best if you just forget about me, OK? Just go be with the people who love you." His tears are falling freely once again and Frisk finds herself rushing forwards and wrapping him in a tight embrace, tears in her own eyes, Asriel returns the hug, "Ha... ha... I don't want to let go..." he sniffles a bit and they tighten their hug briefly before taking a step back from one another,

"Asriel..." Frisk begins but he cuts her off,

"Frisk... You're... You're going to do a great job, OK? No matter what you do. Everyone will be there for you, okay? Well... My time is running out. Goodbye." He turns away from her, "By the way... Frisk... take care of Mom and Dad for me, OK?" he then walks away and before she can call out to him everything goes dark.

"Frisk! Please, wake up...!" the voice shatters through the darkness, a voice familiar and yet, not one of her friends. With a groan she opens her eyes to find six worried faces looking down at her,

"Oh! You are awake! Thank goodness!" Toriel sighs with relief,

"W-we were so worried...! It felt like you were out forever!" Alphys stutters out,

"Yeah! Any longer and I would have freaked out! Tell us next time you decide to take a nap, okay?" Undyne frowns with concern,

"Yeah, you made Papyrus cry like a baby," Sans gives her a small smile,

"WHAT! I DIDN'T CRY! I DON'T CRY! I JUST... CAUGHT SOMETHING IN MY EYE,"

"What did you catch?" Sans gives her a wink as he asks his brother this,

"TEARS!"

"Now, now. The important part is that Frisk is all right." Asgore attempts to calm everyone before looking down at Frisk, "Here, Frisk," he crouches down beside her as she sits up, "Why not drink some tea? It'll make you feel better." Frisk questions silently just where the tea cup he is holding out to here appeared from,

"Errr... How about we give them space first?" Toriel suggests while giving everyone a pointed look, "They must be very exhausted. Though, from what, I am not certain. Frisk... we do not remember exactly what happened. There was a flower... and then, everything went white." Frisk frowns slightly, 'they don't remember any of it... but they also are calling me by my name, rather than just human or child...' "But now the barrier is gone. When you are ready, we will all return to the surface. It seems the door to the east will lead us there now." Everyone looks towards the doorway, Frisk hesitantly gets to her feet, "But before then..." Toriel seems to read something off Frisk's expression, "Perhaps you might want to take a walk? You can say goodbye to all of your wonderful friends. Do as you wish, we will all wait for you here." Toriel makes a point of looking to each and every person in the room, clearly stating this was an order. Frisk gives Toriel a quick hug before racing out of the room. 'I have to find Asriel, I can't leave it at this!'

She stumbles to a stop in the throne room, there sat in the centre, amongst the golden flowers, Flowey sits, head hanging low. Slowly she kneels down beside him, "Asriel..." he shakes his little flower head,

"Don't worry about me. Someone has to take care of these flowers," he mumbles out,

"But Asriel..."

"Frisk, please leave me alone, I can't come back, I just can't, ok? I don't want to break their hearts all over again. It's better if they never see me." Frisk stays silent, 'Is there no way to help him, this is just too sad,' "...why are you still here?" he asks turning to look at her, "Are you trying to keep me company?" he shakes his head and looks around the room, gaze landing on Toriel's old throne which is sat in the corner covered in a dusty sheet, "Frisk... Hey, let me ask you a question. Frisk... Why did you come here? Everyone knows the legend, right...? 'Travellers who climb Mt. Ebott are said to disappear.' Frisk. Why would you ever climb a mountain like that? Was it foolishness? Was it fate? Or was it... Because you...?" he pauses as he looks back at her to find her looking down at her clenched hands, "Well... Only you know the answer, don't you...? I know why Chara climbed the mountain. It wasn't for a very happy reason." Frisk meets his gaze blinking in surprise, "Frisk, I'll be honest with you. Chara hated humanity. Why they did, they never talked about it. But they felt very strongly about that." she opens her mouth to say something but pauses, Chara had been nice to her, but even she had to admit there was an intense hatred deep within him, "Frisk... You really ARE different from Chara. In fact, though you have similar, uh, fashion choices... I don't know why I ever acted as if you were the same person. Maybe... The truth is... Chara wasn't really the greatest person." Frisk frowns at this, "While, Frisk... You're the type of friend I wish I always had. So maybe I was kind of projecting a little bit. Let's be honest. I did some weird stuff as a flower." They share a small knowing smile, "There's one last thing I feel like I should tell you. Frisk, when Chara and I combined our SOULs together..." 'So that's what they did...' "The control over our body was actually split between us. They were the one that picked up their own empty body. And then, when we got to the village... They were the one that wanted to... to use our full power. I was the one that resisted. And then, because of me, we... Well, that's why I ended up a flower." Frisk gently places a hand on his petals, trying to convey how she felt to him silently, "Frisk... This whole time, I've blamed myself for that decision. That's why I adopted that horrible view of the world. 'Kill or be killed.' But now... After meeting you... Frisk, I don't regret that decision anymore. I did the right thing. If I killed those humans... We would have had to wage war against all of humanity. And in the end, everyone went free, right?" he gives her a small hopeful look before looking down again, "I still feel kind of sad knowing how long it took... so maybe it wasn't a perfect decision. But you can't regret hard choices your whole life, right? Well, not that I have much of a life left. But that's beside the point. Frisk, thank you for listening to me." He leans briefly into her hand, "You should really go be with your friends now, OK? Oh, and, please... In the future, if you uh, see me... Don't think of it as me, OK? I just want you to remember me like this. Someone that was your friend for a little while. Oh, and Frisk... Be careful in the outside world, OK? Despite what everyone thinks, it's not as nice as it is here." Frisk knew this already, far too well, "There are a lot of Floweys out there. And not everything can be resolved by just being nice. Frisk... Don't kill, and don't be killed, alright? That's the best you can strive for." He sighs, "Well, see you." Frisk cannot bring herself to leave him, "Frisk... Don't you have anything better to do?" he shakes his small head and vanishes into the ground, she sighs and wipes away a few stray tears,

"I wanted to tell you Chara isn't really gone..." she sat there for a long time, trying to figure out what to do. So long that the glowing options to reset or continue came up like they had on the mountain side so long ago, "it feels like an age has gone by since then..." she shakes her head and presses her hand to the continue, "I don't know where you are Chara, but Asriel... Flowey. He needs a friend and I know there is nothing I can do to persuade him to leave. So please, try and reach out to him, I know you have the determination within you to reach him if you try..." she slowly stands, "I don't want to say goodbye... so, I guess it's good you're not here," she chuckles sadly, "I'll come back and visit as soon as I can, both for you and Asriel." With pain and sadness in her heart she turns around and heads back to the others. Sans looks at her concerned but she throws on a happy smile and together the seven of them exit the underground.

A cool breeze whips around them as they stand on the cliff edge. The sun was slowly rising and before them was an ocean of trees basked in a warm glow of gold, purple and red. Frisk looks to her side at her monster friends and feels happy, they were free, and although Frisk had not been the one to break the barrier like she wanted to, she would always remember and be thankful.

"Oh my..." Toriel stares in awe,

"Isn't it beautiful, everyone?" Asgore sighs,

"Wow... it's e-even better than on TV. WAY better! Better than I ever imagined!" Alphys gasps while taking in as many details as she can,

"Frisk, you LIVE with this!? The sunlight is so nice..." Undyne closes her eye and takes a deep breath in, "and the air is so fresh! I really feel alive!"

"HEY SANS... WHAT'S THAT GIANT BALL?" Papyrus asks turning to his brother,

"We call that 'the sun' my friend," Sans chuckles,

"THAT'S THE SUN! WOWIE! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FINALLY MEETING THE SUN!"

"I could stand here and watch this for hours..." Asgore admits, Frisk refrains from ruining the moment and telling him that the sunrise would not last hours, that would have been rude,

"Yes, it is beautiful, is it not? But we should really think about what comes next." Toriel turns to look at the others,

"Oh, right. Everyone... This is the beginning of a bright new future. An era of peace between humans and monsters. Frisk..." Asgore looks to her and she tilts her head inquisitively, "I have something to ask of you. Will you act as our ambassador to the humans?" they all looks to Frisk, waiting for her answer,

"If... if that's really what you want, I'd be honoured to," she smiles,

"YEAH! FRISK WILL BE THE BEST AMBASSADOR! AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... WILL BE THE BEST MASCOT! I'LL GO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION!" Papyrus then suddenly runs off, 'Maybe I should have warned him, some humans aren't very nice...'

"Welp, someone's gotta keep him from getting into trouble. See you guys," he gives Frisk a hidden wink and walks back towards the mountain, she guesses he is going to use a shortcut,

"Man, do I have to do EVERYTHING? Papyrus, wait!" Undyne yells running after Papyrus,

"Hey, Undyne! Wait up!" Alphys runs after her. Silence folds over the remain three on the mountain side,

"Whoops. Uh, should I do something?" Asgore timidly looks to Toriel, who just narrows her eyes at him silently, "Well, gotta go!" and he also hurries off down the mountain after the others.

"It seems that everyone is quite eager to set off. Frisk... You came from this world, right?" Toriel asks looking down at her, Frisk nods, "So you must have a place to return to, do you not? What will you do now?" Frisk had not thought of that, she looks down at her feet hoping to hide any sign of the emotions running through her, she did not want to go back, she did not want to face them again. She rubs her arms, over the weeks old bruises that have nothing to do with her fights in the underground,

"Can I... can I stay with you?" Frisk peeks up at Toriel to find the goat woman blinking in shock,

"What? Frisk... You really are a funny child," she smiles in amusement, "If you had said that earlier, none of this would have happened. It is a good thing you took so long to change your mind." She chuckles and holds out a furry hand to Frisk, "I suppose. If you really do not have any other place to go... I will do my best to take care of you, for as long as you need. Alright?" Frisk takes her hand with a bright smile, "Now, come along. everyone is waiting for us!" Toriel starts to lead her down the mountain. Frisk's joy falters though as the scene around her glitches and static fills her ears for a moment, and then, she is back at the top of the mountain. Alone... or was she?

...

Sans just grinned as Undyne started demanding to know just how he got down here before her, he shrugs, "I took a shortcut," he winks, but her rage only builds,

"How do you know a shortcut when we have never been to the surface before!" she yells,

"BROTHER MUST YOU ALWAYS TAKE THE LAZY CHOICE!" Papyrus scolds, Sans just chuckles again and holds his hands up in surrender, "YOU WILL MAKE A BAD IMPRESSION ON THE HUMANS!"

"Alright, alright, I'll try to be less of a lazybones," he grins and turns to see Toriel coming towards them, he frowns, they are alone, "Where's Frisk?" Toriel blinks and looks behind her,

"They were... just with me..." she frowns concerned, "Maybe they got distracted...?"

"I'll go check," Sans waves them on and starts walking back up the mountain, "go on ahead, don't worry, I'll have the kid with us before you know it,"

"SANS... YOU'RE GOING TO BE LAZY AGAIN!"

"You know me too well bro," Sans chuckles and walks out of sight of them. His steps stop though as his surroundings shift and glitch, "what the hell..."

"Sans you have to move quicker! Frisk needs your help now!" a voice rams into his head, wincing he spins around looking for the source, the voice was eerily familiar, 'it can't be him though...' "MOVE NOW SANS!" Sans jumps and shortcuts back up the mountain at the urgency in the unknown voice. If he had a heart, it would have stopped at what he witnesses at the top of that mountain. Frisk stood fighting against what looked to be a shadow draping around her, trying to force her hand to something the glowed brightly hovering in the air in front of her,

"No... Stop! Why are you doing that!" Frisk cries out,

"Frisk!" Sans shouts running towards her, Frisk, startled, looks over at him, but this gives whatever is attacking her advantage and Frisk's hand is forced against the glowing object. Sans gaze zeros in on that object, the word reset flashes brightly.

"No!" Frisk yells, throwing herself back as laughter fills the air, "Sans!" she spins and reaches towards him. He reaches out to her but then everything goes dark.

Thump.

He blinks and stares up at the familiar ceiling. Confused and having a major sense of déjà vu, although that was not really out of the ordinary if he really considered things. He wonders why he is actually awake and why he is on the floor. Something felt off to him and not because he was on the floor, he only got this feeling when... "That damn weed," he grumbles forcing himself to sit up, but for some reason that thought did not seem quite right. Things were different last time, really different. He was sure of it. "I need to figure out what the hell happened, again," he rubs his face in an attempt to push away the lingering feel of tiredness,

"SANS!" his brothers voice yells from beyond the bedroom door, "ARE YOU AWAKE? YOU'RE LATE FOR YOUR SENTRY DUTY!" he groans, not really wanting to go do his job, "SANS! WAKE UP YOU LAZYBONES!"

"Am up bro," he calls while jumping to his feet and slipping into his pink fluffy slippers, he grabs his blue hoodie and heads out of the room,

"FINALLY! I HAVE TO GO TRAIN WITH UNDYNE, I WILL CHECK ON YOU IN A WHILE TO MAKE SURE YOU AREN'T SLEEPING ON THE JOB!" with that his brother hurries out the door. Sans hesitates,

"Before I go anywhere, I'm checking the monitors, something feels really wrong..." he heads out of the house and around the back, stepping into the old basement lab, "I need answers, and I need them now."

 **A/N - Longest chapter to date on this story, and I kid you not, while writing the fight between Frisk and Asriel, I was listening to music and hope and dreams came on XD**

 **Well I hope you're enjoying the story. It's no where near the end yet so get ready, this is only the beginning!**


End file.
